REPORT: Problems with the equal treatment of accused persons in pre-trial proceedings in Bulgaria

Problems in the criminal justice system in Bulgaria have disparate impact on particular groups. This applies to both police custody and pre-trial proceedings. Bulgaria is unique in the disproportionately high number of Roma people either accused or convicted in criminal proceedings. Data obtained in this research allows us to measure the unequal treatment of, as well as the disparate effects that provisions, measures and policies have on the three main ethnic groups in Bulgaria (Bulgarians, ethnic Turks and Roma), as well as on foreign nationals, women and juveniles.

This report was produced within the framework of the project “Piloting Equality Data Collection in Criminal Justice Systems Across the EU”. Project activities began on 1 November 2020 as a collaboration between five non-governmental organisations: the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC, coordinator), The Association for the Defence of Human Rights in Romania – the Helsinki Committee, the Centre for European Constitutional Law (Greece), the Human Rights League (Belgium), as well as Fair Trials (Belgium). The project is co-funded by the European Union.

The summarises the results of the survey conducted in Bulgaria in the summer and autumn of 2021. The survey is based on a comparative representative sample of people who were recently deprived of their liberty in Bulgarian prisons and prison hostels, however it is much larger in scope than its predecessors. This report describes the research methodology and summarises its findings.

Related project: Evaluation of the Prison Reform in Bulgaria: Legislation and Practice Following the Pilot Judgement of the ECtHR “Neshkov and Others”