site.btaUPDATED PM Denkov: Prosecutors, Judges Must Stop Turning Blind Eye to Violence

Prosecutors and judges must stop turning a blind eye to violence,Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said Sunday on bTV commenting on this week’s case of an abused 18-year-old girl from Stara Zagora.

“Each of us should be aware of what his role is for something like this to happen,” Denkov stated.  “This is a heinous crime, unfortunately not the first and I am saddened that it will not be the last,” he added. “Each of us should know that violence, hate speech should disappear in the discussions between us. Unfortunately, such rhetoric has increased in recent months, and it must disappear,” the Prime Minister pointed out. Denkov noted that the Interior Ministry should react as quickly as possible, prepare the documentation and hand it over to the Prosecution Office.

Denkov reminded that the Penal Code was changed on Friday and some penalties were increased. “The reason for this was to have greater stricktness. You cannot drive drunk, drugged, kill a person and then get away with a suspended sentence. This is absolutely unacceptable, in the same way as this sadism should be immediately sanctioned,” he explained. “You cannot say that a victim of such a crime should fight the rapist alone instead of the justice system taking the victim's side,” Denkov stressed and added that  the laws need to be refined, but the other participants in the process must also take their role, because no matter how strict the law is, if prosecutors and judges then tolerate this type of violence, not much will change.

The Prime Minister pointed out that it is important that when there is a crime, a violation, there is also a quick reaction so that the perpetrator is punished. “What we see today is the result of those many years in which either there was no punishment or it comes after five or 10 years, when everything has become blurred and in many cases a suspended sentence is imposed,” Denkov said. He expressed belief that the system should start working again so that everyone knows that if they do something wrong, they will get punished.

According to him, whether a person is good or not depends on what he has experienced in his childhood. “That is why we have to go back to the feeling that family is important and also education and upbringing are two sides of the same coin,” Denkov underlined.