Strasbourg Rules against Bulgaria, Slams Prosecution Model

The Bulgarian Constitution makes it impossible to bring criminal charges against the Chief Public Prosecutor against his will even in case of murder, the court in Strasbourg has concluded.

In its ruling on what has been described as the unlawful detention of senior Bulgarian Prosecutor Nikolai Kolev and the ineffective investigation into his murder, the European Court of Human Rights criticized the centralised structure of the prosecution service, the working methods and the existing institutional arrangement.

The ruling came in response to an application by Nikolai Kolev, which was maintained by his wife and two children after his death in 2002.

The court has concluded that the investigation had not been independent and effective due to a number of factors, including the exclusive power of prosecutors to bring criminal charges and Chief Public Prosecutor full control over each and every decision issued by a prosecutor or an investigator.

The court awarded EUR 30,000 in respect of non-pecuniary damage, and EUR 5,280 for costs and expenses to the applicants.

The principal facts from the case track down the timeline of the term of former senior prosecutor Nikola Filchev, called by Strasbourg magistrates simply “Mr F”, who occupied that post between 1999 and 2006.

Kolev was a high-ranking prosecutor; he served as Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor of Bulgaria between 1994 and 1997. In January 2001, upon an application by the Chief Public Prosecutor, he was dismissed from his position as a prosecutor at the Supreme Cassation Prosecution Office with an order sending him into retirement.

Following his appeal submitting that he had neither reached the requisite age nor had asked for retirement, the courts decided in his favour. He resumed work as a prosecutor, this time at the Supreme Administrative Prosecution Office.

Kolev publicly stated his opinion that the Chief Public Prosecutor suffered from a psychiatric disorder, committed unlawful acts and ordered criminal proceedings on fabricated charges against persons he found inconvenient. Kolev alleged that, as a retribution for his disagreements with the Chief Public Prosecutor, he himself had been retired compulsorily.

Within a short period of time after Kolev’s public accusations, several sets of criminal proceedings were brought against him and members of his family, on various unrelated charges. In the first half of 2001, Kolev wrote to the authorities and the press stating that he expected he would be arrested on charges of illegal possession of drugs which would be planted on him in an attempt to silence him.

Kolev repeatedly voiced in public his fears that he might be killed as part of a merciless campaign against him orchestrated by the Chief Public Prosecutor. On the evening of 28 December 2002 he was shot dead in front of his home. An investigation was opened on the same day and a number of investigative steps were carried out in the days and weeks that followed, including expertises and witness questioning.

Although a number of new investigative acts were ordered and carried out, the investigation was suspended repeatedly, the last time in September 2008, for failure to identify the perpetrator.

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