Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

Press Review

Photo: Maria Peeva

Quoting the Interior Ministry, the "Sega" Daily reports that during the past two years in Bulgaria, a total of 821 convicted people fled from justice. Some were later captured and jailed, but nearly half of them are still wanted.

In 2015, the Bulgarian parliament adopted amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code, under which convicted persons banned from leaving the country are issued replacement documents. The reason for the measure was that in this way the border police would be able to stop those who attempt to flee because replacement documents would be recognized by technology available at border crossings. However, the Interior Ministry has not issued a single replacement document, Sega reports quoting sources from the ministry. This is because the procedure for issuing replacement documents had to be described in the law on personal documents but this has not happened yet. The newspaper adds that the issue of replacement documents is just a part of the big problem related to measures such as "house arrest" or "prohibition to leave the country," imposed by the court.

The Interior Ministry have repeatedly said they do not have enough resources to monitor those placed under house arrest, so virtually anyone could escape. Leaving the country is even easier, because the movement within the EU is free, and it is uncertain whether the border police have information about all those who are subject to such a ban. Another proposed measure was using electronic bracelets. The project was progressing slowly and the measure did not enter into force as these electronic bracelets were not described in the law. After this happened, a public procurement was launched for ensuring the monitoring of 1,040 people within a period of two years.

Last May, however, the procedure was terminated on grounds that there were not enough candidates. The deadline for participation was extended, but just one more offer was received. This was there cannot be a choice between several offers and there will be no new procurement procedure, Sega concludes.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

From left to right: Boris Georgiev, Galin Tsokov, Martin Vechev and Slav Petrov

Google provides scholarships to young researchers at INSAIT

Google is donating USD 1 million for scholarships for young scientists working at the Institute for Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology (INSAIT) at Sofia University. This is one of the largest global scholarship donations by the..

published on 5/16/24 12:17 PM

Sofia hosts a large-scale forum of Google

Today, Sofia will host a large-scale forum of the technology giant Google. It will be opened by caretaker Minister of Education and Science Professor Galin Tsokov, the Ministry of Education announced. Google DeepMind Vice President Slav Petrov is also..

published on 5/16/24 7:05 AM

Cloudy and rainy Thursday

Mostly cloudy conditions will continue over the next day. There will be occasional showers, especially in the western half of the country. Winds will be light to moderate from the south-east. Minimum temperatures will be between 6°C and 11°C, around 8°C..

published on 5/15/24 7:05 PM