Bad prosecution cost Bulgaria 2.47M leva in 2016 – report
Bulgaria’s prosecutor’s office has lost 284 cases last year under a law that holds the state liable for damages incurred by individuals prosecuted without sufficiently good reason and later acquitted, daily Sega reported on July 24, citing figures from the prosecutor’s office annual report.
In 97.2 per cent of those 284 cases, the courts found that the prosecutor’s office was at fault for “illegal prosecutions”, the daily said. The damages awarded in such cases in 2016 came in at 2.47 million leva, slightly lower than in 2015 (2.5 million leva) and a sharp decline compared to 2014 (3.65 million leva).
The daily points out that the figures cited in the prosecutor’s office report did not stipulate whether any additional amounts were due because of penalty charges owed on overdue payments.
In calculating compensation, the courts have to take into account the seriousness of the charges against the acquitted individual, as well as the length of the litigation, whether the individual spent any time under arrest and how publicised the litigation was, Sega said.
According to the prosecutor’s office report, one of the current deficiencies of the law is that the country’s highest court, the Supreme Court of Cassation, rarely accepts to hear appeals from prosecutors in such compensation lawsuits, the daily said.
(The Palace of Justice building in Sofia. Photo: Clive Leviev-Sawyer)