NATIONAL LEGAL AND POLICY FRAMEWORKS CONCERNING DEFENDANTS AND PERSONS DEPRIVED OF LIBERTY WITH INTELLECTUAL AND/OR PSYCHOSOCIAL DISABILITIES IN LAW AND IN PRACTICE specialised ward may be ordered by the court for a person suffering from an IPD who, in view of his/her mental condition and the nature of the committed offence, may be deemed a serious threat to society or to his/her relatives. In these cases the concerned person is under close supervision so as to prevent him/her from the commission of further offences.133 The court-ordered compulsory medical treatment may be discontinued or amended when this is required by changes in the patient’s condition or if it is necessitated by the course of his/her treatment. In all cases, after six months of having ordered a person to be placed in a medical facility, the court must deliver an ex officio decision on whether or not the compulsory treatment should be continued, discontinued or replaced with another measure.134 The compulsory medical treatment during pre-trial proceedings is ordered on the motion of a district prosecutor if the person is not detained or of a regional prosecutor if the person is detained135 who, prior to petitioning for the treatment, requests a forensic assessment and authorises an investigative body to determine the conduct of the person before and after the committment of the offence and to determine whether this person poses a threat to society. Requests for orders of compulsory medical treatment are considered by the district court at the person’s place of residence if the person is not detained and by the regional court at the place of the detention facility if the person is already detained.136 The court hearing on thе compulsory treatment is attended by the person for whom the measure is requested, by his/her parents or guardians, and the victim, all of whom are summoned to the hearing by the prosecutor. It is not mandatory that the person for whom the measure is requested be present at the court hearing when his/her health condition does not allow for it. The participation of the prosecutor and the lawyer of the person with presumed disability is mandatory. In all cases the court hears the conclusions of the expert witness (who is a psychiatrist)137. The adjudication of the defendant’s competence is delivered by a single judge and can be appealed or contested within seven days of its pronouncement.138 If the adjudication by a first instance court is repealed, then the case is elevated to а court of appeal whose decision is final. After six months have passed since the placement of the person under compulsory treatment, the court at the location of the psychiatric facility where the person is placed ex officio pronounces on the continuation, replacement or termination of compulsory treatment.139 Before the expiration of the six-month period from placement under compulsory treatment, as well as in the cases when the person is placed under the outpatient care of his relatives and under the И Bulgaria, Criminal Code (1.05.1968), Art. 90. Bulgaria, Criminal Code (1.05.1968), Art. 91. 135 Bulgaria, Criminal Procedure Code (29.04.2006), Art. 427. 136 Bulgaria, Criminal Procedure Code (29.04.2006), Art. 428. 137 Bulgaria, Criminal Procedure Code (29.04.2006), Art. 430. 138 Bulgaria, Criminal Procedure Code (29.04.2006), Art. 431. 139 Bulgaria, Criminal Procedure Code (29.04.2006), Art. 432, para. 1. 133 134 40 SLAVKA KUKOVA