site.btaNo Limitation Period for Heavy Offences by Communist Party Officials in 1944-1989 Period

No Limitation Period for Heavy Offences by Communist Party Officials in 1944-1989 Period

Sofia, September 17 (BTA) - There will be no limitation period for heavy crimes committed in the period from September 9, 1944 to November 10, 1989 by officials of the Bulgarian Communist Party, according to amendments to the Penal Code adopted conclusively by the National Assembly on Thursday.

The amendments were backed by 111 MPs (mostly from GERB, the Reformist Bloc, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms and the Patriotic Front), 30 MPs voted against and seven abstained.

The Bulgarian Socialist Party described the text as deformed and anticonstitutional. "If we follow this logic, will we hold the incumbent Prime Minister liable as well?" MP Filip Popov asked.

Socialist MP Yanaki Stoilov said he is not ashamed of his parents and grandparents that had built this country. He argued that many decisions of that time were taken by collective bodies and that this practice has persisted to the present day. There is a risk that any future majority would adopt such provisions regarding the previous incumbents, Stoilov said.

This change will award the efforts and the expectations of hundreds of thousands of victims of the communist regime, said Movement for Rights and Freedoms MP Chetin Kazak. The aim is not to seek revenge but to allow pre-trial proceedings against the immediate instigators and perpetrators of crimes under the communist regime.

"How many of the people that you are planning to sanction are alive?" Ataka's Stanislav Stanilov asked ironically. He noted that nothing would come out of this law.

There will be no limitation regarding crimes against peace and humanity under another text adopted by Parliament.