 On June 1, 2007, the Center for the Study of Democracy, with the support of the Britsih Embassy in Sofia, organized a round table on Reinforcing Criminal Justice in Border Districts. Keynote speaker at the event was Mr. Ian Dawson, Prosecutor in the Crown Prosecution Service, who made a presentation on the work of his office in England and Wales when countering trans-border criminality.
 The round table was attended by representatives of the judicial and law enforcement bodies involved in the detection, investigation and punishment of trans-border crimes.
 In her opening remarks Dr. Maria Yordanova, Director of the CSD Law Program, presented the two-year project Reinforcing Criminal Justice in Border Districts, implemented by the Center. She pointed out the increasing importance of countering trans-border crimes at the Bulgarian-Turkish, Bulgarian-Macedonian and the Black sea border regions, which became external EU borders after the accession.
Mr. Gareth Roberts, Second Secretary in the British Embassy in Sofia, greeted the participants and talked about the necessity of reinforcement of the international cooperation when fighting trans-border criminality.
 Mr. Ian Dawson, Prosecutor in the Crown Prosecution Service and advisor of the Serious Organized Crime Agency, spoke about the activity and the role of the Prosecution Service in the UK. He explained the structure of the law enforcement bodies in the UK and attracted attention to the extremely limited time they have when bringing to an end all the criminal procedures and investigations. Mr. Dawson also mentioned the problems of the international cooperation and in particular the existing European mechanisms.
 Mr. Kamen Mihov, Prosecutor in the Supreme Prosecution Office of Cassation and Head of International Legal Assistance Department, presented the role of the Prosecution Office as an institution, which fulfils to the highest extend the international assistance in the field of criminal law. He spoke about the significance of the close relationships with the neighboring countries, the problems the Prosecution Office faces, the need of ratification of the Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between Member States from 2000.
 Mr. Stoil Sotirov, Chairman of the Bulgarian Judges Association and Justice at the Supreme Court of Cassation, talked about the problems with the human resources within the law enforcement and judicial bodies in the border regions. He pointed out the necessity of more investigating police officers and policemen in the Bulgarian border regions.
 Mr. Dimitar Markov, Project Coordinator in the CSD Law Program, presented the goal and the structure of the first version of the Reinforcing Criminal Justice in Border Districts report. He mentioned its basic parts: review of the legal framework of the investigation and punishment of trans-border criminality, analysis of the criminal justice and law enforcement in individual border districts, the international judicial cooperation on criminal lawsuits and recommendations to the respective institutions in order to improve the work on revealing, investigating and penalizing the trans-border crimes.
 Among the participants during the discussion that followed were Ms. Dushana Zdravkova, Member of the European Parliament, Mr. Stoil Pashkunov, Deputy Director of the National Institute of Justice, Mr. Kamen Peshev, District Prosecutor of Kyustendil, Mr. Denyo Terziyski, Chief of the investigating police officers in the Border Police Directorate General, Mr. Evgeni Todorov, Legal Assistant in the US Embassy in Sofia, Mr. Kolyo Dimitrov, Judge in the District Court of Haskovo, Mr. Margarit Kamburov, Regional Prosecutor of Svilengrad, and Ms. Ana Karaivanova, Deputy Minister of Justice.
Program and speeches
Media Coverage (in Bulgarian) |
