There has been a reduction in the number of complaints against Bulgaria at the European Human Rights Court (ECtHR), according to reports of the Justice Ministry.

Bulgaria paid out a total of over BGN 309 000 under the slow justice compensation mechanism introduced in the autumn of 2012.

Milena Kotseva, head of the Procedural Representation of Bulgaria before the ECtHR Department of the Justice Ministry, reported that pending complaints had dropped by over 36%.

The decrease was explained with the introduction of the slow justice compensation mechanism aimed at encouraging people to address national authorities.

Justice Minister Zinaida Zlatanova, as cited by Darik radio, noted that the much-anticipated judicial reform strategy envisaged a division of Bulgaria's Supreme Judicial Council (VSS) into two units handling staff maters of judges and prosecutors, respectively.

She pointed out that the measure, which had been discussed for a long time, did not mean that a new panel of VSS would have to be elected.

Zlatanova noted that the Justice Ministry was working hard to solve the problem of the random distribution of cases, adding that a centralized system accessible by all courts had to be created in two years. She explained that the system would guarantee that the distribution of cases was not marred by manipulations.