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Ombudsman Kovacheva proposes criminalisation of acts against human dignity
Ombudsman Diana Kovacheva submits to the National Assembly a legislative proposal for the criminalisation in the Criminal Code (CrC) of offences involving the intentional infliction of physical or mental pain or suffering that degrades human dignity. She announced this on 1 August 2023, in the programme “This Morning” on bTV in connection with the Stara Zagora case, where an 18-year-old girl was cut with a dummy knife by a man and as a result of the 24 injuries inflicted she received 400 stitches.
The Ombudsman has been pushing for years to drop the systematic character in the Criminal Code, where an abuser can be punished more severely only after three consecutive reports have been made by the victim.
According to Prof. Kovacheva, changes are necessary because there is a "white spot", referring to cases of intentional infliction of severe violence, which does not kill, but crushes human dignity. According to her, there is no text in the Criminal Code criminalising torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
“The Domestic Violence Act was passed. The fact is that there are quite serious trade-offs inside. Partnerships remained outside the hypothesis of the law. Cases like those in an intimate relationship continue to be unpunished under the hypothesis of domestic violence,” emphasized Prof. Diana Kovacheva.
She also calls for a definition of violence – physical, psychological, economic – as well as for mandatory therapy for perpetrators, mandatory training of police officers to respond with understanding to the problem of the victim.
Source: The Office of the Ombudsman of the Republic of Bulgaria
