The Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs unanimously supported at first reading a bill aimed at protecting journalists and public figures from the so-called "slap cases", BTA reports. The changes to the Civil Procedure Code were submitted by the Council of Ministers and were adopted with 17 votes "for", without a single "against" or "abstentions".
The bill is based on European Directive 2024/1069 of April 11, 2024, which concerns the protection of persons engaged in public participation against manifestly unfounded legal claims. The main goal of the new texts is to prevent the judicial system from becoming an instrument for silencing critical opinions and public debate, while at the same time guaranteeing the right to a fair trial.
The Ministry of Justice expects that the new texts will drastically reduce the number of cases against media representatives and activists working on issues of high public interest. According to Deputy Minister of Justice Iva Kecheva, the changes will also ease the workload of the judicial system. She emphasized that representatives of the magistrate community participated in the working groups, whose opinions were taken into account.
Although the European directive mainly regulates cross-border cases, it sets minimum standards. According to Lyubomir Talev from the Council on Legislation at the Ministry of Justice, member states are encouraged to build on this minimum protection in their national legislation.
A similar bill, protecting the rights of journalists, scientists, public figures and environmentalists, is entering the National Assembly for the first time. The chairwoman of the legal committee, Yanka Tyankova, noted that although there are no exact statistics on SLAPP cases in Bulgaria, their number is not small at all.
“Special rules are being introduced that fully protect freedom of speech in the country and prevent direct pressure, including through legal means, to influence journalists. I think this bill is the surest guarantee that we are working for democratic processes in the country“, Tyankova said during the debates.
During the session, the deputies also approved a new model of a declaration of property status and the origin of funds, related to the Judiciary Act. The document, which also includes a declaration of private interest, has already passed the coordination procedure for the professional quota of members of the Supreme Judicial Council and has been sent for final approval by the Minister of Justice.
The committee was also supposed to consider a second draft law on amendments to the Civil Procedure Code, submitted by "Democratic Bulgaria", but the item was postponed at the request of Nadezhda Yordanova. The reason for the postponement is the need to collect additional opinions on the proposed texts.
Source: www.dunavmost.com