Round table on the topic "Proof in Criminal Proceedings – the Need for Reform of the Criminal Procedure Code"

On 17 December 2014, a round table on the topic "Proof in Criminal Proceedings – the Need for Reform of the Criminal Procedure Code" was held in the Conference Hall of the Supreme Court of Cassation. The round table was organised as part of the events dedicated to the 145th anniversary of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. At the opening of the round table, the Director of the Institute for the State and the Law at BAS, Prof. Tsvetana Kamenova, PhD, greeted the speakers and those present for their courage in joining the discussion of the most complex problems to resolve in criminal procedure, and expressed her gratitude to the judges of the Criminal Division of the Supreme Court of Cassation for their active assistance in organising the event and for their readiness to host it. A greeting to the participants and congratulations on the anniversary of BAS were also extended by the Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Cassation, Judge Pavlina Panova, who emphasised the positive results for the administration of justice of the symbiosis between science and practice. In support and continuation of this thesis, the moderator of the discussion, Assoc. Prof. Ekaterina Salkova, PhD – Head of the Department of Criminal Law – quoted part of a statement by Anton Kableshkov – a distinguished jurist, Chairman of the Philosophical and Social Branch of the Bulgarian Literary Society and a full member of BAS, who skilfully combined theoretical research with his practical work as Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Cassation in the period 1895–1913, and who in 1909, at the ceremonial assembly of the Bulgarian Literary Society, shared his ideas about the judiciary, which sound entirely relevant today.

Judges of the Supreme Court of Cassation, prosecutors of the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's Office, judicial assistants at the Supreme Court of Cassation, judges and prosecutors from other bodies and from the Association of Prosecutors in Bulgaria, and scholars took part in the round table. The four reports presented addressed fundamental questions of proof – the core of every proceeding. Judge Krasimir Shekerdzhiev of the Supreme Court of Cassation reviewed part of the case law of the Criminal Division of the Supreme Court of Cassation, illustrating the most frequently encountered problems related to proof in criminal proceedings. Deputy District Prosecutor Stefan Milev substantiated the internal contradiction in the content of Art. 234, para. 7 of the Criminal Procedure Code, as well as the contradiction of the provision with other provisions of the Code and with the Constitution. Zdravka Krasteva, Assist. Prof. of Criminalistics at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", analysed the practice of the European Court of Human Rights concerning investigative hypotheses and their significance for the lawful conduct of criminal proceedings. Adelina Hadzhiyska, a doctoral student at the Institute for the State and the Law at BAS, outlined the problems observed in reading the explanations of an accused person and the testimony of a witness, which she illustrated with case law on the application of Art. 6, paras 1 and 3 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

The presentation of the reports was followed by a discussion in which the following took part and expressed their opinions on questions of proof: Deputy District Prosecutor Stefan Milev; Prosecutor Nikolay Georgiev, Head of the Pre-trial Department at the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's Office; Judges Pavlina Panova, Krasimir Shekerdzhiev, Veronika Imova and Kapka Kostova of the Supreme Court of Cassation; and the scholars of the Department of Criminal Law at the ISL – BAS, Assoc. Prof. Gergana Marinova, PhD, Assoc. Prof. Ekaterina Salkova, PhD, and Assist. Prof. Maria Mihaylova. The Head of the Department, Assoc. Prof. Salkova, summarised the results of the discussion and called for the continuation of the debate on the appropriate measure in regulating formal requirements in the field of proof.