site.bta Judicial Authorities in Migration-Afflicted Border Areas Need Support

Judicial Authorities in Migration-Afflicted Border Areas Need Support

Sofia, June 21 (BTA) - Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov asked the Plenum of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) to provide urgent financial and personnel support to prosecution offices and courts in migration-afflicted border areas, the Prosecution of Bulgaria reported on Tuesday.

Tsatsarov noted that the migratory pressure along Bulgaria's southern border with Turkey and Greece has burdened some regional prosecution offices and courts with unusually large numbers of criminal cases. He proposed setting up a working group comprising representatives of both SJC colleges (the college of prosecutors and the college of judges) in order to carry out a quick review of the workload of these institutions and the resources available to them and propose relevant support.

On June 16 alone, judicial authorities in border areas urgently handled 27 trespassing cases. The investigation in each case was carried out in 48 hours by one police investigator in Tsarevo and three local prosecutors, one of whom had been seconded from Bourgas. The procedures were then completed by two criminal judges.