A growing number of Bulgarian citizens believe that if they appeal to the judiciary they would receive a fair decision, according to an Alpha Research survey made for the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

More than 60 per cent question the court's impartiality, Dnevnik daily reported.

The increasing trust in the judiciary was attributed to better administration in the courts and better service.

A total of 3200 court clients, litigants in various court cases, were interviewed for the survey. The main aim of the survey was to find the opinion of people who have direct contact with the judicial system.

People's opinion changes very slowly in a positive direction because they are influenced by the media and the failure of several controversial trials, Alpha Research representative Radostina Angelova said.

The survey took place for the second consecutive year. Summarised data for the towns of Plovdiv, Varna and Bourgas showed that in contrast to a year ago when ten per sent of Bulgarians from these towns did not believe in a fair trial in the Bulgarian judiciary, now less then seven per cent are sceptic.