site.btaParliament Rejects Special Intelligence Devices Control Report

The National Assembly on Friday rejected the annual report of the National Special Intelligence Devices Control Bureau for 2022 without debate, by a vote of 48 in favour, two against and 51 abstentions. The report was supported by 35 MPs of GERB-UDF, one of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria, 10 of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms and two of There Is Such a People.

The report says that special intelligence devices (SIDs) were used on 2,325 persons in 2022. A total of 4,331 requests to use SIDs on persons and facilities were submitted to courts, and 3,562 of them were granted while 769 were denied. Eight hundred and sixteen items of physical evidence were proposed based on the use of SIDs.

In 118 cases, SIDs were used on facilities to identify individuals who were reasonably suspected to be in the process of planning or committing, or to have committed, a grave premeditated crime. In 304 procedures the use of SIDs began under the terms and conditions of Article 17 of the Special Intelligence Devices Act, which is about urgent cases, and in 10 other procedures the applicable provision was Article 18, which deals with cases of imminent danger of a grave premeditated crime or a national security threat. A total of 5,693 operating techniques were employed in the reporting year.

Also in 2022 European delegated prosecutors in Bulgaria made 44 requests to use SIDs. Eighteen of these requests were denied and seven were left without consideration by the president of the Sofia City Court or a duly authorized deputy.

In the reporting year, SIDs were used most often for crimes under Penal Code Article 321 (organized crime: 974 cases), Article 354a (narcotic substances: 852 cases), Article 195 (theft: 176 cases), Article 234 (excisable goods: 126 cases), Article 242 (customs regulations: 82 cases), Article 301 (bribery: 47 cases), and Chapter 1 of the Special Part of the Penal Code (crimes against the republic: 155 cases).