BULGARIA - PENAL PROCEDURE CODE

Part two. EVIDENCING

Chapter thirty six. PROCEDURES IN CONNECTION WITH INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ON PENAL CASES

Section 1: Transfer of Convicted Persons

Art. 453. (1) The transfer of persons convicted by a court of the Republic of Bulgaria, for serving the punishment in the state whose citizens they are, and the transfer of Bulgarian citizens convicted by a foreign court, for serving the punishment in the Republic of Bulgaria, shall be decided by the Chief Prosecutor under an agreement with the competent authority of the other state, in the presence of consent in writing from the convicted person.

(2) The decision for the transfer of the convicted person may also be made after the execution of the punishment has started.

Art. 454. (1) The consent of a Bulgarian citizen convicted by a foreign court or of a foreign citizen convicted by a Bulgarian court shall not be required for the transfer when:

1. the sentence or the subsequent administrative decision of the state, which has convicted the person, includes an order for expulsion (deportation) or another act under which the person, after his/her release from the place of imprisonment, cannot stay in the territory of the state, which has convicted him/her;

2. before serving the sentence, the convicted person has fled from the state, which has convicted him/her, to the territory of the state whose citizen he/she is.

(2) In the cases under Para 1, item 1, before enacting the decision for transfer, the opinion of the convicted person shall be taken into consideration.

Art. 455. The place, time and procedure for transmitting and receiving the convicted person shall be determined by agreement between the chief prosecutor and the competent authority of the other state .

Art. 456. (1) When there are data that the person convicted by a Bulgarian court is in the territory of the state whose citizen he/she is, the chief prosecutor may address a request to the foreign authorities for detaining the person for whom a request will be done for accepting the execution of the sentence, while informing that there is an effective sentence with regard of this person.

(2) In the event of a submitted request for detaining a Bulgarian citizen by another state, Art. 64 and Art. 68 shall be applied respectively .

Art. 457. (1) After the convicted person arrives in the Republic of Bulgaria or it is established that he/she is in its territory, the Chief Prosecutor shall send the sentence accepted for execution and the materials of the Sofia City Court attached thereto with a proposal for deciding the issues connected to its execution.

(2) The court shall pronounce itself on the proposal with a definition in a court hearing with the participation of a prosecutor and summoning the convicted person.

(3) (suppl. - SG 27/09, in force from 01.06.2009) The definition shall contain the number and date of the sentence accepted for execution, the case in which it has been enacted, the text of the law of the Republic of Bulgaria stipulating liability for the perpetrated crime, the term of the imprisonment punishment imposed by the foreign court, and the initial regime and type of imprisonment institution for serving the punishment shall be determined.

(4) When under the law of the Republic of Bulgaria the maximum term of imprisonment for the perpetrated crime is shorter than that determined with the sentence, the court shall reduce the imposed punishment to this term. When under the law of the Republic of Bulgaria imprisonment is not stipulated for the perpetrated crime, the court shall determine a punishment corresponding most fully to that imposed with the sentence.

(5) The pre-trial detention and the served punishment in the state where the sentence has been enacted shall be deducted, and when the punishments are different, these periods shall be taken into consideration in determining the term of the punishment .

(6) The additional punishments imposed with the sentence shall be subject to execution, if such ones are stipulated in the respective text of the legislation of the Republic of Bulgaria and have not been executed in the state where the sentence was enacted.

(7) The court definition shall be subject to appeal before the Sofia Court of Appeal.

Art. 458. (1) The decision for changing the sentence enacted by a court of the other state after the transfer of the convicted person shall be accepted for execution under the procedure of Art. 457.

(2) The decision for rescinding the sentence enacted by the court of the other state after the transfer of the convicted person shall be executed immediately by order of the chief prosecutor.

(3) When the sentence of the foreign court has been rescinded and a new investigation or hearing of the case has been decreed, the issue of instituting a penal procedure as regards the person transmitted for serving the punishment shall be decided by the chief prosecutor in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Bulgaria.

Art. 459. (1) The sentence as regards a person transmitted or accepted under the procedure of this section for serving the punishment shall be subject to verification only by the competent authorities of the state where it was enacted.

(2) When the sentence as regards a person transmitted for serving the punishment in another state is rescinded or changed, the Supreme Cassation Prosecution shall send a copy of the court decision to the competent authority of that state. If a new investigation or hearing of the case has been decreed, the materials necessary for this shall also be sent.

Art. 460. (1) In the event of amnesty in the Republic of Bulgaria, the execution of the punishment under a foreign sentence accepted for execution shall be terminated under the general procedure.

(2) In the event of amnesty in the state where the sentence accepted for execution has been enacted, the execution of the punishment shall be terminated immediately by order of the chief prosecutor.

(3) In the event of amnesty in the Republic of Bulgaria, the chief prosecutor shall inform immediately the competent authority of the state where the person has been transmitted for serving the punishment .

Art. 461. The sentence as well as the decisions for changing or rescinding it, accepted for execution under the procedure of this section, shall have the force and effect of a sentence and decisions enacted by a court of the Republic of Bulgaria.

Art. 462. The provisions of this section shall be applied insofar as an international agreement in which the Republic of Bulgaria participates does not stipulate otherwise.

Section II. Recognition and Execution of a Sentence of a Foreign Court

Art. 463. An effective sentence enacted by a foreign court shall be recognised and executed by the authorities of the Republic of Bulgaria in accordance with Art 4, Para 3, when:

1. the act for which the request was made constitutes a crime under the Bulgarian law ;

2. the perpetrator bears criminal liability under the Bulgarian law;

3. the sentence has been enacted fully in accordance with the principles of the The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the protocols thereto, to which the Republic of Bulgaria is a party;

4. the perpetrator has not been convicted for a crime considered to be political or for one connected with a political crime, or for a war crime;

5. as regards the same perpetrator for the same crime the Republic of Bulgaria has not recognised a sentence of another foreign court;

6. the sentence does not contradict the basic principles of the Bulgarian penal and penal procedure law.

Art. 464. A request by another state for recognising and executing a sentence enacted by its court shall be rejected when:

1. the imposed punishment cannot be executed due to the expiry of the prescription stipulated in the Bulgarian Penal Code;

2. against the convicted person at the time of perpetrating the crime, a penal procedure could not have started in the Republic of Bulgaria;

3. for the same person for the same crime in the Republic of Bulgaria there is an uncompleted penal procedure, an effective sentence, decree or effective definition or disposition for terminating the case;

4. there are sufficient grounds to consider that the sentence has been imposed or aggravated for racial, religious, national or political considerations;

5. the execution contradicts the international obligations of the Republic of Bulgaria;

6. the crime was perpetrated out of its territory.

Art. 465. (1) A request for recognition in the Republic of Bulgaria of a sentence of a foreign court shall be addressed from the competent authority of the other state to the Ministry of Justice.

(2) The Ministry of Justice shall send the request and the sentence and other documents attached thereto to the district court at the place of residence of the convicted person. If the latter does not reside in the country, competent to consider the request shall be the Sofia City Court.

(3) The court shall consider the request for recognition of the sentence of the foreign court, composed of three judges in an open hearing with the participation of a prosecutor, whereas the convicted person shall be appointed a defence attorney unless he has engaged one himself/herself.

(4) The court, after hearing the prosecutor, the convicted person and his/her defence, shall enact a decision within ten days, whereby it shall grant or reject the request for recognition of the sentence of the foreign court.

(5) The court decision shall be subject to appeal or protestation before the respective court of appeal within seven days from making it public.

(6) The appeal and the protestation shall be considered by the respective court of appeal within ten days from their submission to the court. The decision of the court of appeal shall be final.

(7) A certified copy of the effective decision shall be sent to the Ministry of Justice to be forwarded to the competent authorities of the state requesting the recognition of the sentence. If at the time of enacting the decision the convicted person is serving an imprisonment sentence in another state, the court shall hand him/her over a copy of the decision through the Ministry of Justice.

Art. 466. (1) The decision whereby a sentence of a foreign court has been recognised has the effect of a sentence enacted by a Bulgarian court.

(2) If the sentence of the foreign court has imposed imprisonment punishments as regards several persons, the recognition has effect only as regards the person for whom recognition of the sentence has been requested.

(3) If the recognised sentence of the foreign court refers only to an individual act of a continued crime perpetrated in the territory of another state, the recognised sentence shall not be an obstacle for penal prosecution of the convicted person for other acts included in the continued crime, which have been perpetrated in the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria.

Art. 467. (1) For ensuring the execution of the imprisonment punishment imposed with the sentence of the foreign court, the competent court under Art. 465, Para 2, may at any time after the institution of the procedure for recognition and execution of the sentence of the foreign court until the entering in effect of the decision take the measure detention in custody of the convicted person who is in the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria.

(2) The definition whereby the measure detention in custody is taken shall be appealed under the general procedure.

Art. 468. (1) Competent to enact execution of the decision whereby a sentence of a foreign court has been recognised, is the district court at the place of residence of the convicted person, and when he/she does not have a place of residence in the country – the Sofia City Court.

(2) The court under Para 1 shall be competent to enact also the execution of the decision on the rights to seized and confiscated property.

(3) The court under Para 1 shall be competent on all issues related to the execution procedure, including the consideration of a request for rehabilitation as regards the imprisonment punishment imposed with the sentence of the foreign court.

(4) The court shall decide the issue of the term of serving the imprisonment punishment, whereas the time of the detention in custody and the imprisonment punishment served in the other country shall be deducted.

(5) The court shall terminate the procedure of execution of the imprisonment punishment under the recognised sentence when the state whose court has enacted it informs about amnesty, pardon or another reason for which the further execution of the sentence is unallowable. If under the amnesty, pardon or another reason the imposed punishment is reduced, the court shall decide what part of the sentence should be served. The court decision shall be subject to appeal under the general procedure.

(6) The provisions of this code for execution of punishments shall also be applied to the execution of the decision whereby a sentence of a foreign court has been recognised.

Art. 469. (suppl. – SG 15/10) Under the procedure of this section, shall also be recognised and executed other acts of a foreign court, whereby seizure or confiscation of the means of the crime and of property acquired through crime, or of its equivalence, is enacted, unless otherwise specified in a
Law.

Art. 470. A request to another state for recognition and execution of a sentence of a Bulgarian court shall be addressed by the respective Bulgarian court and shall be sent by the Ministry of Justice when:

1. the convicted person has permanent residence in the other state;

2. the execution of the sentence in the other state may improve the possibilities for socialisation of the convicted person;

3. the person was convicted to imprisonment and is already serving or should serve another imprisonment punishment in the other state;

4. the other state is the state of origin of the convicted person and it has declared that it wishes to accept the execution;

5. the punishment cannot be implemented in the Republic of Bulgaria even through extradition.

Article 102
Use of terms
For the purposes of this Statute:
(a) "surrender" means the delivering up of a person by a State to the Court, pursuant to this Statute.
(b) "extradition" means the delivering up of a person by one State to another as provided by treaty, convention or national legislation.