VІІІ. DETENTION FACILITIES IN THE COURT BUILDINGS
In 2013 the NPM launched series of successive inspections of the court buildings in the
country, which are guarded by officers from the "Security" Central Directorate at the
Ministry of Justice.
Subject of the inspections were the temporary isolation and stay facilities (TISF) for
individuals detained and forcefully brought to the court authorities in 11 judicial regions.
The following aspects were subjected to inspection: treatment (degrading, cruel or
inhuman treatment of the individuals, isolation, restriction measures, use of force);
protection measures (checks and inspections, complaint and signals filing procedures,
disciplinary procedures); living conditions (food, lighting and ventilation, hygiene,
sanitary premises, accommodation) and medical services.
All court buildings in Bulgaria have to meet the general regulatory requirements, and they
are separately categorised depending on the provisions of special bylaws. For example,
Appendix No 1 to art. 3, para 2 of Ordinance No 4 of 10 January 2008 regarding the safety
and security rules and norms in the design, construction, reconstruction, modernisation
and operation of the judicial power sites (issued by the MJ, promulgated in the SG, issue 8
of 25 January 2008) makes distinction of 5 categories of court buildings. The NPM
inspection teams visited 3 of these categories of buildings: II category, where the court
building on the territory of Plovdiv falls in; III category – the buildings of 9 district courts,
of the Administrative Court in Kyustendil, the Administrative Court in Smolyan and the
buildings of 2 regional courts – in Duplitsa and in Kazanlak; IV category which the
buildings of 29 regional courts fall in.
According to the effective regulations and the categorisation introduced for the proper
functioning of the activity related to forcefully bringing individuals to the court
authorities the following separate premises for official use are required in the court
buildings:
- for buildings in categories II and III: one room for bringing men; one room for bringing
women; one room for bringing minors; one toilet with a wash basin;
- for buildings in category IV: one room for bringing adults; one room for bringing minors;
one toilet with a wash basin.
The following separate premises for official use are required for the proper functioning of
the "Escort" activities:
- for buildings in category II: a minimum of 8 premises for temporary stay and isolation of
escorted individuals – each of them with a 6-person capacity; a minimum of 3 toilets in a
common sanitary premise; one on-duty officer premise; two premises for meetings with
lawyers; all premises must be connected via shared corridor where safety zones should
be secured and where the escorted individuals should be searched before entry in and
exit from the premises;
- for buildings in category III: a minimum of 4 premises for temporary stay and isolation
of escorted individuals – each of them with a 6-person capacity; a minimum of two toilets
in a common sanitary premise; one on-duty officer premise; one premise for meetings
with lawyers; all premises must be connected via shared corridor where safety zones
43
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents