Interior redecorating

Continuing controversy about how Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry goes about its business has both political and financial costs.

Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov has announced a series of reforms to the ministry and ruling party GERB has initiated a parliamentary commission of inquiry into cases of police brutality, but critics of Tsvetanov and the ministry remain adamantly unconvinced.

Political dust-ups in Parliament aside, Tsvetanov also again finds himself in a public war of words with the judiciary, in a saga that potentially could be damaging as the European Commission considers how well or otherwise Bulgaria is coming up to scratch in European Union standards of justice and home affairs.

In recent weeks, there have been a series of well-publicised incidents involving the ministry, including the death in custody of a suspect in what the Bulgarian media calls the "Miroslava of Pernik" murder case, and the heavy-handed operation against a family suspected of possession of contraband cigarettes.

These recent incidents aside, the ministry – albeit then under different political management – has a less than illustrious record at the European Court of Human Rights, losing 27 cases in the 12 years up to 2010 regarding excessive use of force by police officers. Bulgaria has had to pay more than 900 000 leva (about 450 000 euro) in damages.

Although recent cases already have led to disciplinary action against police officers, GERB and the opposition socialists put to Parliament requests for commissions of inquiry into police brutality. That GERB’s version was set to prevail did nothing to assuage opposition criticism.

Socialist MP Maya Manolova told the National Assembly on February 1 that the commission would amount to "sham theatre" in which the governing party would "play all the roles themselves, the good and the bad cop, with the audience applauding – we will not take part in such a committee because we believe it would be unfair to Bulgarian citizens".

Ivan Kostov, a former prime minister and leader of the minority right-wing Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria, condemned the commission as intended only as a cover-up mechanism.

The creation of the commission followed a hearing by a parliamentary committee, lasting more than three hours, on recent alleged police brutality and incompetence. It took some of the gloss off a news conference held the same day by Tsvetanov, accompanied by senior ministry officials and Finance Minister Simeon Dyankov, on Interior Ministry reforms.
 
Restructuring
On the financial side, Tsvetanov announced that 3000 positions were being terminated, meaning that staff numbers at the Interior Ministry were being reduced from 58 170 to 55 170.

The change is largely theoretical because it affects mainly vacant positions at the ministry.

Tsvetanov announced that the law governing the ministry would be amended, to merge the criminal police and security police into a National Police Chief Directorate.

Significantly, against the background in particular of the previous cases at the European Court of Human Rights, new rules would be legislated on police use of firearms and other weaponry and equipment.

Over the course of the rest of the year, police throughout the country are to be trained in EU human rights standards.

The ministry is taking part in a project under the auspices of the European Commission, in which Bulgaria is one of three EU countries where the compliance of police activities with the bloc’s human rights standards is being assessed.
 
Judgment
Tsvetanov, who as Interior Minister repeatedly has been scathing in his criticism of the judiciary – apparently taking his cue from his boss, Prime Minister Boiko Borissov, who did the same thing in past years when Borissov was Interior Ministry chief secretary – has found himself possibly facing court action by a senior judge for libel.

Reportedly, Tsvetanov alleged that Miroslava Todorova, president of the Association of Judges, had links to organised crime, suggesting that this was why there had been delays in the trial of a notorious druglord.

Todorova said that she was considering court action against Tsvetanov for the allegation while, in a message similar to those heard before from the judiciary, the association she heads expressed concern at the executive branch "dangerously inciting aggression" against the judiciary.

The approach taken by the ministry, the association said, of embarking on aggressive and manipulative attacks as soon as a court did something the ministry did not like, "seriously jeopardises the independence of the courts and judges in Bulgaria and brings into question the due process of any citizen charged with a crime".

Significantly, while Tsvetanov long has been a close lieutenant of Borissov, the Prime Minister has joined in public criticism of the ministry’s performance, and held a special meeting with ministry chief secretary Kalin Georgiev for a conversation on the conduct of operations – a signal that the ministry that was the platform for Borissov’s rise to national prominence does not enjoy unlimited and uncritical protection.

Source: The Sofia Echo