ROUND TABLE ON THE OCCASION OF THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ADOPTION OF THE BULGARIAN CONSTITUTION

The Bulgarian Constitution does not guarantee the right of citizens to a fair trial and this right should be made explicit in the Constitution based on the European Convention. This position was expressed by the lawyer and former judge at the European Court of Human Rights Zdravka Kalaidzhieva at a round table held on 7th of July and organized on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Bulgarian Constitution (the current Constitution was adopted on 12th of July 1991).

Lawyer Kalaidzhieva was firm that justice could not be a lottery and that it was not acceptable some courts to have one opinion on an issue, while others had quite different opinion on the same issue.

Former Justice Minister Hristo Ivanov focused on the phenomenon of permanent dissatisfaction of Bulgarian citizens about how they were represented and to what extent they had the feeling that the Bulgarian state institutions were responsive to their interests and expectations.

According to prof. Nelly Ognyanova, freedom of the media in our country was in decline. She called for distinguishing between the right to freedom of expression and media freedom in Bulgaria and asked the rhetorical question - so what that the Constitution guaranteed prohibition of censorship.