Protection from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment
In 2009, too, the Bulgarian Penal Code was not amended to include a provision on torture, as recommended by the UN Committee Against Torture in 2004.[1] As in preceding years, the BHC received many credible complaints from people who claimed they were ill-treated by police officers during or after detention. With very few exceptions, these practices remained unpunished in 2009.
In November and December, BHC researchers interviewed 121 inmates in four prisons (Plovdiv, Pleven, Belene and Bobovdol) on the circumstances of their detention and preliminary investigation. The survey is representative of the four prisons, but not of the system as a whole. It covered inmates whose sentences have entered into force and whose pre-trial proceedings were initiated after 1 January 2008. The results and the comparisons with previous similar surveys are presented in the table below:
Use of force by police years by year
% interviewees responding that force was used against them
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | |
| At the time of detention | 23,2 | 20,1 | 17,1 | 23,1 | 24 |
| Inside the police stations | 23,2 | 20,8 | 22,9 | 23,1 | 22,3 |
The results indicate that in 2009, as compared to 2008 and preceding years, there was a lack of any positive dynamics with regard to the use of force by police officers at the time of detention and inside the police station. The share of interviewees who state that suchforce has been used during their detention is almost the same as that of the inmates who state that illegal use of force was used against them inside police stations.
The conditions at many Bulgarian detention facilities remained inhuman and degrading throughout the year. This refers most of all to the investigation detention facilities, but also to some prisons.[2] The physical infrastructure and the regime for some categories of detainees, such as those sentenced to life without parole, pose a significant problem from the point of view of inhuman and degrading treatment.
Several cases of massive and indiscriminate use of force by the police against large groups of people were widely discussed by the media and the public. On 14 January police officers used excessive force to deal with a demonstration in front of the parliament. The police were not satisfied with the use of force solely during the clashes with protesters, but continued to chase and beat citizens on the streets of Sofia. Television and personal cameras recorded cases of unprovoked beatings by police officers, often accompanied by insults and curses. The prosecutor’s office, albeit with a great delay, initiated an investigation. In September, it ended with a decision not to start proceedings against police officers. In February, MPs turned down a request to create an ad hoc committee to look into cases of police violence, on the grounds that this was aimed at “blocking the work of the Ministry of the Interior.”
On 1 August, police officers in Pleven used excessive force against Roma at a local disco club, Bijou. According to witnesses, four or five police officers entered the disco at about 3 a.m. They said they had received a bomb threat and everyone had to leave so that the premises could be searched. Some visitors refused to obey and began quarrelling with the officers. The latter called for special forces backup, which arrived immediately. The two groups of police officers then allowed the Bulgarians to leave the club, but held the Roma inside. When only the Roma and police officers remained inside, some of the Roma were beaten, and then detained at a police station. Some of them were sent to court and sentenced for daring hooliganism under the quick procedure, in two days. The sentences, some of which include effective imprisonment with initial close confinement, were for “obscene actions constituting a severe violation of public order and expressing evident disrespect of society; the actions were marked by extreme cynicism and boldness and were accompanied by resistance to an official body.”[3] The beatings have inflicted traumas, some of them severe. Several people’s limbs were broken and several people were hospitalized. The prosecutor’s office initiated pre-trial proceedings upon complaints by victims. Some of these were terminated with a refusal to hold the officers liable, other continued, but remained incomplete by the end of the year.
In 2009, the ECtHR announced two judgments, in which it held violations of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In its judgment on Shishmanov v. Bulgaria from 8 January 2009 the ECtHR held such a violation in the case of an inmate with diabetes who was held at the Plovdiv prison for three months, between July and October 2000. The court held that the inadequate medical care (lack of an appropriate diet and prescription of expired medicines) constituted inhuman and degrading treatment. On 22 October 2009, the ECtHR announced its judgment on Stoyan Dimitrov v. Bulgaria. The court held a violation of Article 3 in the case of an inmate serving a life sentence. In 2000-2005, he was held at the Sofia Central Prison and at the Kremikovtsi prison hostel – crowded, unhygienic and infested with rats. While at the Sofia Central Prison, he had to use a bucket for physiological needs.
[1] See BHC, Human Rights in Bulgaria in 2004, Annual Report of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, March, 2005, available at: http://www.bghelsinki.org/upload/resources/hr2004-en.doc.
[2] See Conditions in places of detention.
[3] For a summary of the sentences, see the website of the Pleven District Court: http://rs.pleven.bg/WEB_DECn0809.HTML.
