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Updates on Bulgaria

31 Dec 2005

In 2002, the government amended both its Criminal Code and Criminal Procedural Code to meet the requirements of the Rome Statute. The Statute has become part of the national legislation and will prevail over domestic law in cases that fall under both jurisdictions.

An analysis provided by Transparency International-Bulgaria, in April 2004, on the status of implementing legislation provided the following conclusions: “The crimes against peace and humanity are defined in Chapter XIV of the Bulgarian Criminal Code. There is full compliance between the definition of the crime of genocide under Article 416 of the Criminal Code and under Article 6 of the Rome Statute.

The Bulgarian Criminal Code does not define crimes against humanity as such. Only the crime of apartheid, one of the acts listed in Article 7 of the Rome Statute, is defined in Article 417 and Article 418 of the Bulgarian Criminal Code. The latter provision includes acts that are not covered by the definition of apartheid under Article 7 of the Rome Statute. On the other hand, the definition of apartheid under the Statute is broader.

Crimes against the laws and customs of conducting war are defined in Section Two of the Chapter XIV of the Bulgarian Criminal Code. The list of war crimes in the Rome Statute is longer than the list in the Bulgarian Criminal Code.

The Code criminalizes acts that constitute grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949. There is full compliance between Articles 410 to 412 of the Criminal Code and Article 8, para 2, “a” of the Rome Statute. Criminal Procedural Code was amended in terms of its compliance with the Rome Statute, e.g., provisions of the Bulgarian Penal Procedural Code, Section 2, article 439A, 439B, 440A, 440,B, 440G fully comply with the Chapter 9 of the Rome Statute.”

Bulgaria has implemented not adopted a law of cooperation with the ICC.

The Parliament of Bulgaria ratified the Rome Statute of the ICC on 15 March 2002. The Bill of ratification is available in the official journal State Gazette (31/ 26 March 2002).

Previously, an inter-ministerial working group was formed to prepare the constitutional amendments and other substantive criminal law issues in order to bring the national legislation in line with the Rome Statute. Amendments to the criminal code and the code of criminal procedure were completed by mid-2000.

Ratification of the Rome Statute was preceded by the decision of the Constitutional Court about the compatibility between domestic legislation and the Rome Statute.