NATIONAL LEGAL AND POLICY FRAMEWORKS CONCERNING DEFENDANTS AND PERSONS DEPRIVED OF LIBERTY WITH INTELLECTUAL AND/OR PSYCHOSOCIAL DISABILITIES IN LAW AND IN PRACTICE conditions do not meet the minimum standards of humane treatment.206 Detainees remain permanently locked in their cells, with the exception of one hour - one and a half hours per day, intended for outdoor time and physical activity. Almost everywhere, the cells are small, poorly ventilated, furnished very sparsely or with nothing but a bed with bed bugs, and no opportunity to participate in any meaningful activities. 207 3.1.2.6 Placement in psychiatric ward/hospital for assessment Other legal grounds for pre-trial detention could be the decision to admit a person to a psychiatric hospital for assessment for a duration of up to 30 days; this type of measure is considered a form of pre-trial detention by law. 208 An accused person can be admitted to a psychiatric hospital for assessment for up to 30 days either during pre-trial proceedings, (whereby this measure is ordered by the first instance court comprised of a judge and two jurors who are appointed based on a request by the prosecutor), or during trial proceedings (whereby it is ordered by the court that hears the case as requested by the parties), or on the court’s own motion. The court shall promptly pronounce a ruling in a public session wherein it hears the expert witness (a psychiatrist) and the person whose admittance is sought with this procedure. The participation of a prosecutor and a lawyer of the person with presumed IPD is mandatory. The failure of the accused to appear in court without a compelling reason is not a reason to cancel the court hearing. The time period for the assessment may be extended once by no longer than 30 days following the same procedure as above if the court-appointed period proves insufficient. 209 3.1.2.7 Defendants, whose intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities have been identified during trial, have been considered as fit to stand trial and criminally responsible, tried and convicted to a sentence of imprisonment In case the persons with IPD are sentenced with imprisonment they are placed in regular prisons. Since 2006 the Criminal Code only provides that “in relation to convicted persons with severe psychopathy or suffering from a disorder of consciousness that does not exclude mental competence, as well as in relation to convicted persons who are dependent on narcotic substances, appropriate medical care is provided”. 210 206 In eight detention facilities the cells are not equipped with sanitary facilities; in five detention facilities there is no access to sunlight in the cells; in seven detention facilities there are no places for outdoors stay and rooms have been adapted for walking while in the detention center in Svilengrad, movement is possible only in the corridor. 207 BHC, 2021 Annual Report, p. 89. 208 The experts claim that this legal scenario is rarely enforced in practice and mostly in those cases when it is imperative that the accused person’s mental state be evaluated and he/she refuses to cooperate with the assessment and determination of his/her psychiatric state. 209 Bulgaria, Criminal Procedure Code (29.04.2006), Art. 70. 210 Bulgaria, Criminal Code, Art. 40, para. 4 (enforced on 13.10.2006). 54 SLAVKA KUKOVA