site.btaJustice Minister Georgi Georgiev Comments on Unlicensed Nursing Homes

In a bTV interview, Justice Minister Georgi Georgiev commented on the case in which in early June elderly people were found in illegal homes in the village of Yagoda in horrific conditions. Georgiev said that due to weak state control in recent years “all sorts of crooks have thought that they can do whatever they want”. 

“The point of having a government at the cost of such compromises is to show that the state is returning and is in its place,” commented Georgiev.

Georgiev explained that the insufficient legislation will be changed, starting with criminal liability for violators. “Secondly, when such social services are provided without meeting standards and this threatens the life and health of people in these institutions, this should also become a crime. Legislative measures are one part, the other is increasing the capacity of the examining institutions, social services, the proposal is to increase the number of examiners from 50 to 80 people,” explained the Minister.

The government is about to announce the start of a competition procedure for the selection of three nominees for European prosecutor, which must be completed by the fall, the Minister of Justice also said.

In the first week of June, elderly people with their legs tied, under the influence of narcotics, locked in rooms with horrific conditions, without bed linen, window handles removed and without connection to the outside world, were discovered by inspectors from several state institutions in two facilities in the village of Yagoda, Stara Zagora region, during a joint operation. Seventy-five men and women aged 51 to 86 were held in appalling conditions in illegal homes for the elderly, Justice Minister Georgi Georgiev said at a briefing at the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Interior in Stara Zagora on Monday.