site.btaJustice Ministry Flooded with Objections to Judicial Map Reform

June 14 (BTA) - All opinions received so far at the
Bulgarian Justice Ministry in connection with a reform of the
judicial map proposed by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) are
negative, the Ministry said on Monday during a discussion it
organized on accessible and effective justice.

The radical reform in question, known as Version 4, envisages
the closure of a large number of small regional courts
countrywide (113 altogether) and their conversion into
territorial divisions of the nearest larger courts. The types of
 cases under the jurisdiction of regional courts will be
reduced. District courts will examine cases at the first
instance, and appellate courts at the second instance. Part of
the judges will be transferred to higher courts. Territorial
divisions may try cases by video conference, or a judge will sit
 on site. The idea is to cut costs, but litigants may have to
invest a lot more time and money to appear before a faraway
court.

Caretaker Justice Minister Yanaki Stoilov said that "the lower a
 court, the more significant social role it plays" and that the
reform version "gives rise to more questions than it solves".

Deputy Justice Minister Maria Pavlova said that opinions from
municipal councils and mayors of dozens of settlements, from the
 Supreme Bar Council of Bulgaria and the Notary Chamber have
been sent and continue to arrive at the Ministry. More than 500
judges have signed an objection to the proposed reform and have
sent it to the SJC.

Silvia Georgieva of the National Association of Municipalities
argued that local communities, too, should be consulted about
the judicial map reform. She said that this discussion is part
of the debate about the depopulation and development of the
regions which engaged in similar discussions on keeping their
hospitals and schools. In her words, some regions are being
gradually deprived of essential public services.

According to lawyer Valya Gigova of the Supreme Bar Council, the
 debate is overdue and should have taken place when the reform
versions were drawn up. In her opinion, the number of regional
courts should be optimized but their jurisdiction should be
broadened. The experience of the prosecution service should be
tapped, Gigova said, adding that after the number of prosecution
 services was optimized, prosecutors have had difficulties in
the progress and administration of their cases.

Lawyer Ina Loulcheva said that if their access to justice is
restricted, people will take the law into their own hands and
arbitrariness will rule. In her words, judicial proceedings have
 a reformative and deterrent effect and the transfer of a large
number of case types to the district court will erode the public
 credibility of justice. The publicity of court hearings would
be limited if they are held by video conference, she argued.

Most discussants pointed out that the judicial map reform does
not concern the judicial system alone and should be submitted to
 a broad public and political debate. The reform could use
elements of several of the versions proposed so far.

Public discussions on the reform will be held shortly, after
which the SJC will draft legislative amendments and will submit
them to Parliament. RI/LG


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