The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE) welcomes the elaboration of a bill of November 2022 which appears overall tailored to respond to the maximum extent possible within the existing constitutional framework to CoE recommendations concerning the accountability of the Prosecutor General. This transpires from a CoE statement after this week’s meeting of the Committee of Ministers in Strasbourg.
The Committee examined cases related to the inefficiency of criminal investigations in Bulgaria, as well as the lack of independence of criminal investigations of the Prosecutor General. It “welcomed the important long-awaited reform” of the criminal procedure to guarantee the independence of investigations concerning the prosecutor general or deputy prosecutors general. It encourages the proposal for introducing judicial oversight of prosecutors’ refusals to initiate pre-trial proceedings for certain types of offences. The Committee looks forward to the Bulgarian authorities proceeding with the adoption of the proposed legislation.
The Committee of Ministers further invites the Bulgarian authorities to provide their analysis on whether it is necessary to further improve through constitutional amendments the above mechanism, at a subsequent stage and after appropriate consultations, to address limitations due to constitutional constraints.
