April 25: Sofia Investigator indicted on bribery charges by the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office. April 26: Military Appellate Court reverses an acquittal, sentences a Sofia Prison supervisor to seven years in jail for a drug and munitions conviction. May 1: five government officials arrested on fraud charges in Sliven, suspected of embezzlement.
In less than a week, this is a snapshot of the work of the judicial system to fight corruption in Bulgaria. These arrests, indictments, and sentences are just some of the 700 individuals charged with corruption since 2003, with 300 convicted - numbers reported in these pages by Petar Kostadinov two weeks back.
Yet so little attention is focused on these efforts, and even less on the broader structural changes underway in Bulgaria’s judicial reform. Serious commentators on the work of the courts need to examine events more closely.
As Bulgaria looks at the prospect of European Union accession, EU members look back. In the justice sector, despite the hard work of literally thousands of magistrates and court staff over the past several years, much of the reporting that EU members continue to see is old news. What is missing from the story, as jurists look down the road to accession, is the other side of the balance sheet: the concrete steps of rigorous rule of law reform ongoing in scores of Bulgarian courts, national justice institutions, prosecutors’ offices, and bar councils around the country.
Whether Bulgaria accedes to the EU in January 2007 or not - and the United States strongly supports Bulgaria’s timely accession - another question remains: what will observers learn during the spotlight of transition? Judging by most media accounts, they’ll learn only half the story. The view from the ground, from the labours of hundreds of magistrates, is very different indeed.
Anti-Corruption?
While the drumbeat of press criticism continues that there is little or no effective response to corruption and organised crime, a little legwork on the facts belies this assessment.
In the past two months alone, the number of investigations, charges and convictions shows a record worthy of attention. Beyond the three instances listed above, the reach of the administration of justice is wide and far. A second Sofia Investigator was indicted in Sofia City Court in April on drugs and guns charges. Two investigators from Pernik District were charged by the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office after a bribery sting aided by the National Bureau for Combating Organised Crime. The Prosecutor’s Office indicted seven people, including two alleged members of organised crime syndicates, for suspected involvement in recent mob-related assassinations.
At a national level, the justice sector is fulfilling its responsibility to check the other branches of government On April 7, Bulgarian Prosecutor-General Boris Velchev requested revocation of the immunity of seven Members of Parliament. This is the first official step in charging these deputies under the penal code.
Perhaps most notable is the continuing and rising accountability among Bulgaria’s judges. The Supreme Judicial Council evaluates on average two dozen disciplinary cases against magistrates each year, with possible results ranging from dismissal of the case to termination of the magistrate’s employment. Of the 15 cases filed against judges in 2005, six are now complete: three judges were fired, two censured, and one vindicated. Several of the other cases were filed in late 2005 and are still in process. Further testament to Bulgaria’s improved judiciary is that these records - going back to 1999 - are available to the public on the SJC website.
That’s from the top down. From the bottom up, the democratic principle of accountability has also been keenly demonstrated by Bulgaria’s judges over the past several months. In December, an open letter from many of the nation’s judges to the SJC decried the inconsistent and untransparent nature of some judicial advancements. Just last week, the Junior Judges studying in the mandatory six-month training programme at the National Institute of Justice submitted another letter. Addressing the SJC, the NIJ, and the Union of Judges, this petition protests the direct, non-competitive appointment of judges - a process ostensibly reserved for emergency instances, but often employed in suspect circumstances.
These steps toward accountability are evidence of a structure of reform that is well underway and is now working to serve democratic interests. These processes take time, and failure to digest the real steps happening daily provides an incomplete and inaccurate picture.
Strong Courts
What makes these investigations stick? The answer is a broad civic confidence that inevitably grows from a strengthened and well-functioning court system. The United States Agency for International Development is not alone in its work with Bulgaria’s courts. EU PHARE projects, United Nations agencies such as the UNDP, the British Council, and local NGOs have all been active with rule of law partners in Bulgaria on a vast array of specific, concrete projects. These activities show lasting results.
The 32 partner courts working with the USAID Judicial Strengthening Initiative exemplify much of this structure of reform. These courts have actively worked to modernise their courthouses, offer trainings in the best European, American, and Bulgarian practices, and implement intensive plans to promote openness, transparency, and accountability.
One of the most important benchmarks of a court’s strength is evinced by the axiom “justice delayed is justice denied.” Of the 26 standards embodied in the JSI Court Improvement Plans, the first - by no accident - is case delay reduction. Chairpersons of JSI’s partner courts, and hundreds of their colleagues, work regularly to implement the particular reform activities related to this core standard. Large courts such as those in Plovdiv, Veliko Turnovo, and Varna each deal with heavy caseloads and each report reductions in case delay.
Partners from less populated areas, such as Smolyan Regional Court, also demonstrate results that matter: in 2006 the number of cases resolved in less than thirty days has increased each month in Smolyan, from 42 in January, to 52 in February, to 62 in March.
It is the seemingly small successes like those in Smolyan this year that are the building blocks of strong courts nationwide.
National Magistrates Conference
In Kostadinov’s story on the state of the judiciary, he highlighted “co-ordination among institutions” as the crucial challenge facing the Bulgarian judiciary. Again, as we read of these challenges, Bulgaria’s magistrates prepare to tackle them. The separation of powers and an independent court system are essential to the health of Bulgaria’s democracy. And within those checks and balances, communication between the sectors of the judiciary is the engine of effective administration of justice.
The need for improved institutional communication is precisely why this year the third annual national conference for judges will be the National Magistrates Conference - bringing together judges, prosecutors, and investigators. Although working in separate tracks at the 2006 Conference, the different magistrates will come together at the opening and closing sessions, discussing areas of common vital interest such as criminal law.
Hosted by USAID in 2004, the first National Conference for Judges convened international experts and Bulgarian judges to study and deliberate on the best EU practices. Last year the National Conference was entirely Bulgarian run, costs were shared between USAID and a conference fee from each attendee, and the convergence of 700 judges exhibited the best work of this nation’s courts. The 2005 Conference featured ten working sessions on the leading areas of interest in the judiciary, and five opening plenary demonstrations on concrete, ongoing reform: the use of Verbatim recording systems in courtrooms, combined intake and registry divisions to form “One Stop Shops,” random case assignment procedures as a check against corruption, innovations in the training of judges and court staff, and substantive efforts the courts are taking to increase public trust and confidence.
This year’s National Magistrates Conference will take the next natural step to strengthen the judiciary. The planning committee will meet this month to begin preparations for the November Conference, and will have representatives from all three parts of the magistracy: Judges Ivan Grigorov, Chair of the Supreme Court of Cassation, and Konstantin Penchev, Chair of the Supreme Administrative Court; Prosecutor-General Velchev; and Director of the National Investigative Service Angel Alexandrov. Over the next six months the preparations for the conference, and the conference itself, will further clarify and develop the common cause of the separate but mutually reinforcing judicial institutions.
The 2006 Conference in many ways will be a mirror of the entire broad and complex project of judicial reform. Past conferences have benefited from involvement by professional associations, such as the Union of Judges and the National Association of Court Clerks, and this year’s may involve the Association of Prosecutors. These collaborative efforts form a “holistic, dynamic undertaking that supports professional development” in a common environment, says JSI Deputy Director Virginia Leavitt.
Leavitt has witnessed and contributed to much of the USAID judicial reform work here since 1999, and describes the conference as an essential chapter in the institutional legacy of these efforts. As Leavitt sees it, “an organization or a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. What’s important is that all the links are strong - it is in everyone’s best interest that all the players in a system are as strong as they can be, as competent as they can be.”
As these magistrates, clerks, and international experts continue their labors in the coming days - and as the Bulgarian public looks on - the accession question will evolve into an answer. Commentators will continue to be exposed to many viewpoints along the way. One point of view will remain a constant during these heady times: the view from the desks, lecterns, and chambers of those men and women hard at work in Bulgaria’s courts.
Mark West is a lawyer and the Communication Advisor at the USAID Judicial Strengthening Initiative. Iliana Andonova, Legal Advisor at the USAID Judicial Strengthening Initiative, contributed to this report.
