MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES

Decisions

CM/Del/Dec(2021)1419/H46-10

2 December 2021

1419th meeting, 30 November – 2 December 2021 (DH)   H46-10 Velikova group v. Bulgaria (Application No. 41488/98) Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments   Reference document CM/Notes/1419/H46

 

Decisions

The Deputies

1.         recalled that these cases concern deaths, ill-treatment or lack of timely medical assistance during arrest, in police detention or in penitentiary facilities and the lack of an effective investigation thereon;

As regards individual measures

2.         expressed regret that no further disciplinary or criminal action related to the applicant’s torture is possible in the Myumyun case and invited the authorities, in view of the seriousness of the violation found, to indicate what alternative measures are available to give effect to the requirement of the European Court’s case-law that law enforcement agents, who are convicted for ill-treatment, are dismissed, such as transfer of the responsible police officers to other functions excluding work with detainees; also expressed regret that despite the conclusion of the Supreme Court of Cassation of March 2021 that the police officers in the Dimitrov and Others case had committed negligent homicide, no criminal sanction can be imposed due to statute of limitations; invited the authorities to clarify whether disciplinary measures are possible and to submit their assessment of the suitability for the police officers to work with detainees;

3.         urged the authorities to inform the Committee without any further delay on any possible steps as regards conducting a criminal investigation into the act of torture in the Stoykov case; also invited them to keep the Committee informed on the individual measures envisaged or adopted in the cases of Palfreeman and Ribcheva and Others and on the outcome of the request for reopening in the Yanchovichin case; noted that no further individual measures are possible in the Mihaylova and Malinova case due inter alia to prescription, and adopted Final Resolution CM/ResDH(2021)422;

As regards general measures

4.         invited the authorities to: provide an assessment of the reasons for the increase of complaints of ill-treatment in penitentiary facilities and statistics on such complaints; present an in-depth analysis of the measures taken to date to reduce and eradicate the risk of ill-treatment during arrest and police detention, results of such measures and remaining challenges concerning ill-treatment by the police; put in place a national system for compiling statistics on complaints, prosecutions and disciplinary and criminal penalties related to ill-treatment; provide clear information on the nature of the disciplinary and criminal sanctions imposed for ill-treatment; and support a more intensive monitoring by the Ombudsperson and expert NGOs;

5.         also invited them to provide information on the outcome of any inquiry or investigation in the reported instances of ill-treatment and excessive use of force by the police during the 2020 rallies;

6.         urged the authorities to rapidly finalise their works foreseen in a road map of August 2021 for the execution of the judgments of the European Court, so as to provide, without any further delay, for the offense of torture accompanied with adequate, dissuasive penalties, and consider the need to criminalise the extortion of a confession from suspect not yet served with charges at the pre-trial stage;

7.         reiterated their call on the authorities to ensure that persons detained by the police have prompt and efficient access to a lawyer, including free legal assistance; to ensure that the recording of injuries in police detention and in penitentiary facilities is properly done; to introduce systematic video recording of the interrogations of suspects; to introduce clear rules on automatic notification to the Prosecutor’s Office of complaints of ill-treatment received by the police and to consider providing for automatic notification to a prosecutor of medical findings of signs of ill-treatment of a person detained by the police; 

8.         urged them again to entrust the preliminary inquiries and investigations of allegations of ill-treatment to prosecutors and investigating magistrates who do not have working relationships with the law enforcement agents whose actions have been challenged; decided to continue examining the issue of the introduction of judicial review of prosecutorial refusals to open investigations in the S.Z./Kolevi group of cases, while also recalling its importance for the execution of the present group; 

9.         invited the authorities to indicate how they have ensured, or intend to ensure, that law enforcement agents who have been charged with crimes involving ill-treatment are suspended from duty during the investigation or trial and dismissed if they are convicted, in conformity with the established case-law of the European Court; encouraged them to ensure that police officers charged with ill-treatment could be suspended, not only in situation where there is a risk of them hindering the investigation, but also on grounds related to the seriousness of charges against them, together with safeguards against abusive suspension; and to indicate whether penitentiary staff can be suspended if charged with ill-treatment;

10.       invited them to provide their assessment as to whether further measures are needed to ensure that detainees are examined by doctors, who are independent and suitably trained, to ensure effective evidence-gathering in this respect; further invited them to provide their assessment on the need to amend the rules on classification of information or the respective practices, to allow, in justified cases, victims or their relatives to gain timely and sufficient knowledge of the outcome of internal inquiries of the Ministry of Interior;

11.       encouraged the Bulgarian authorities to continue their cooperation with the Secretariat and to provide information on measures adopted to respond to Interim Resolution CM/ResDH(2020)198 and the above decisions, as well as to respond to the more detailed questions raised in the Secretariat’s Analysis and in H/Exec(2021)24 by 30 September 2022.