The deadline for public debate of the Interior Ministry draft of a Counter-terrorism act expires tomorrow, Friday. No other reactions are expected until then save for the ones already formulated. The idea of a law against terrorism seems to be acceptable, though there are many reservations.

If the draft is to become law in all of the points made public for discussion, the special services will have the right to ban access to the Internet, stop people from leaving the country or from meeting certain individuals or even seize personal documents. The army would be authorized to perform police functions such as conducting inspections and body searches and detaining citizens. Civil rights may be restricted in anti-terrorism operation zones and we shall all have to submit to these restrictions and give the authorities our full cooperation. The media would have the obligation to “convey the information necessary for keeping the public informed, promptly and accurately” without revealing any details of the special service operations.

Some of the counter-terrorism measures are so drastic that they triggered widespread public disapproval. Human rights activists say that the authors of the draft aim to deprive Bulgarians of basic constitutional rights. According to human rights lawyer Mihail Ekimdjiev, the draft is “an assault on human rights” and if it becomes law it will “change the way people live, their habits and values”. One point in particular triggered a storm of indignation – the provision that wiretapping and surveillance of any given person can legally stretch over a period six times longer than is now permissible while the authorities carrying out the surveillance have no obligation to render an account of what they do with the data collected. The draft’s authors are obviously ignoring the bitter experience Bulgaria has had in this field.

Special services experts have also been expressing their reservations. Former intelligence service chief Kircho Kirov commented that with so many acts of terror taking place so close to Bulgaria’s borders, such a law must be endorsed ASAP but added that restricting civil rights is only acceptable during counter-terrorism operations, provided the work of the special services is monitored closely. The opinion expressed by another former intelligence director – Dimo Gyaurov – is not all that different. According to Gyaurov when we are talking about emergency legislation all restrictive procedures must be described clearly and in great detail so as to avoid abuse. Just like Kircho Kirov, Gyaurov also says there must be stringent control of the special services and any steps they take must be authorized by the specialized court. Anti-terrorism expert Hristo Smolenov upholds a somewhat different view – that the government is submitting a law on countering terrorism by administrative methods and that no country has ever managed to cope with terrorism by applying administrative mechanisms.

In fact, the controversy is not the endorsement of a special anti-terrorism law as such, but the degree of restriction of personal liberties and rights the draft envisages in the name of national security. There is no doubt that this will be the bone of contention in the upcoming discussion in parliament. But even the socialists who harbor doubts as to the need of having a separate law against terrorism and who see the authorities as being given excessive powers, contend that if the government considers it expedient to have such a law they would not decline to support it in parliament. The ruling party GERB on its part says the law is long overdue and adds that it is hoping to see it endorsed by the end of summer. Which would not be a bad thing if only to avoid any excessive politicization of the debate in the campaign for the presidential elections due in the autumn.

English version: Milena Daynova