New Unit at Bulgaria Supreme Prosecutor's Office to Tackle Police Brutality

Chief Prosecutor Boris Velchev has announced that crimes committed by or against police officers will be handled by a new unit at the Supreme Prosecutor's Office of Cassation. Photo by BGNES

The new structure of the Bulgarian Supreme Prosecutor's Office of Cassation will feature a special department on combating crimes committed by or against police officers, according to Chief Prosecutor Boris Velchev.

In an interview published by Presa daily on Tuesday, he explains that cases of police brutality have their own specific properties and require competent prosecutors to lead the investigations.

Velchev points out that the new entity will provide additional guarantees that no case gets underestimated.

The Chief Prosecutor adds that he has ordered a check on some of the issues brought to his attention by previous Chairs of the Bulgarian Judges Association (BJA) in relation to the accusations leveled by Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov against Miroslava Todorova, judge at the Sofia City Court and BJA Chair.

"Democracy does not exclude a sharper tone of dialogue," Velchev notes, adding that "when consensus must be reached on the directions of development of judicial reform, however, we do not need tensions and strained dialogue".

In a series of media appearances last week, Tsvetanov accused Todorova of patronizing organized crime and of being incompetent at her job.

He argued that she had delayed the issuing of written motives for verdicts against high-profile criminals, including drug lord Vasil Manikatov.

Todorova countered the accusations by saying that the delay had not allowed anybody to evade justice because the offender had been behind bars during the period.

She further threatened to file a libel lawsuit against the Interior Minister.

Last week, the growing number of complaints of police brutality became the main topic of discussion in Parliament on two occasions.

The most recent blunders, including a violent raid of the home of the Nachkovi family in the village of Mirovyane and the search of the home of a murder suspect, during which he committed suicide, sparked a public outcry and renewed calls for the resignation of Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov.

The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) went as far as to declare it was launching consultations on a new no-confidence motion against the center-right government.

Thursday's meeting between Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and Kalin Georgiev, Chief Secretary of the Interior, resulted in pledges of the Interior to draft new measures aimed at streamlining police operations, reducing mistakes and avoiding actions which give ground to suspicions of police abuse.

Georgiev, who had been reported to be ready to step down following Borisov's demand that he take responsibility for the failures, kept his post as Chief Secretary of the Interior.

Asked to comment on the matter, Georgiev stated on Friday that the current problem at the Interior was the work of the lower and middle managers.