Bulgaria Nearly Worst in EU in Delivering Criminal Justice

General view of the European Court of Human Rights building in Strasbourg, France, 11 January 2011. Photo by BGNES

An independent survey has shown that Greece, Bulgaria, Poland, and Romania are worst in the EU at at delivering justice through criminal trials.

According to the report, as cited by British daily The Guardian, countries on the eastern fringes of the EU appear to be serial offenders in a comparative study of breaches of individuals' right to liberty and a fair trial recorded by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

The most common reason for critical judgments was the delayed start of the trial, given that some EU Member States allow up to four years' pre-trial detention, while others have no limit at all.

The survey was conducted by London-based organisation Fair Trials International and the international law firm Clifford Chance spans the period 2007 – summer of 2012.

The results indicate that the problems in the sphere are worsening.

In 2007, there were a total of 37 breaches of the right to a fair criminal trial in the EU, while in 2011 the number increased to 75.

During the five year-period under analysis, Greece registered the highest number of violations, 108, of both articles. Most of them involved delays in bringing cases to trial.

Apart from that, interpreters were not always available and there were concerns about corruption in Greece's judiciary, according to the Defense Rights in the EU survey.

Bulgaria had 92 violations registered at the ECHR for the period 2007 – summer of 2012, most of them due to long delays at the stage of pre-trial proceedings.

The detained were not given sufficient access to lawyers or their family, according to the report.

Other countries with a high number of violations registered at the Strasbourg-based court were Poland with 67 and Romania with 49.

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