Bulgaria Launches Organized Crime Tribunal amid Politics-Criminals Ties*

In spite of apparent corruption even at top levels of the administration and ties between politics and criminals, very few guilty verdicts have been handed down in the two decades since the fall of communism. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Bulgaria on Tuesday inaugurated a special tribunal that should enhance its so far faltering attempts to fight organized crime and corruption.

The special court is intended to speed up the current slow pace of of defendants in organized crime and corruption trials.

The launch, however, was itself delayed. The court was originally planned for May 2011.

Bulgaria's inefficient and corrupt justice system was named as one of the country's key problems both before and after its accession to the European Union in 2007.

In spite of apparent corruption even at top levels of the administration and ties between politics and criminals, very few guilty verdicts have been handed down in the two decades since the fall of communism.

The EU has blocked hundreds of millions of euros in assistance to Bulgaria owing to blatant embezzlement of funds and has placed the country under unprecedented surveillance.

*The title has been changed by the Editorial Staff of Novinite.com

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