2.1 EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT The EAW is applicable to persons with IPD as there are no provisions which exclude them and there are no specific legal provisions regulating how the European Arrest Warrant should be applied to them or to vulnerable persons in general. No steps were made by Bulgaria to implement Recommendation (2013/C 378/02) to persons with IPD who are subject to European arrest warrant proceedings. Case law Only one case related to EAW in which the requested person is with a psychosocial disability has been found in the electronic case-law database. It regards a refusal for handing over to Austria a person requested with EAW because of his disability and criminal irresponsibility.10 The case concerns the termination of criminal prosecution against a man with a psychosocial disability, requested to be extradited to Austria under an EAW issued on 1.10.2019 by the Vienna Regional Criminal Court. It was opened before the Bulgarian second instance court on appeals by his two lawyers against the decision of the first instance - Regional Court in Vratsa, which stated that the person is to be handed to the judicial authorities of Austria. The accused person was detained in the pre-trial detention facility and was present at the hearing, together with two lawyers, as well as an expert witness who prepared a forensic psychiatric assessment (with the task of establishing what the current mental condition of the person is and whether he is able to stand trial). The expert witness stated that the defendant is familiar to her from his previous treatment stays, that his disease/condition deteriorated, and that he is not undergoing treatment at the time of the hearing. The prosecutor asked the decision of the first instance Regional Court in Vratsa to be confirmed i.e. to hand over the person to the authorities in Austria. Attorney-at-law T. requested suspension of the proceedings due to the person’s mental incompetence even at the time of the hearing, which prevents him from participating in the proceedings at all. He requested the court to signal the prosecutor’s office to place the person on civil involuntary treatment in accordance with the Health Act. Attorney-at-law D. upheld the opinion of the other defender and alternatively requested the annulment of the decision of the Vratsa Regional Court. He argued that the accused did not commit the crime as he was in a state of mental incompetence. The requested person supported what the lawyers said. The court accepted the conclusion of the forensic psychiatric assessment on the mental incompetence of the requested person and terminated the proceedings on the ground that, after committing the crime, the perpetrator fell into a “prolonged disorder of consciousness/mind”, which excludes his mental competence. Due to these considerations, the Sofia Appellate Court annulled the decision of the Regional Court, which allowed the extradition of the Bulgarian citizen to Austria, cancelled his detention 10 Decision No. 107 of 17.03.2020 of the Sofia Appellate Court. Bulgarian Helsinki Committee 13