The detained person in Strumyani Gergana Petrova will sue the Minister of Interior Ivan Demerdzhiev. She announced this on her Facebook profile.
In her post, she explains her motives, citing disclosure of an official secret and slander by an official.
Here is what she writes:
What crime did Demerdzhiev commit against me?
1. Disclosure of an official secret (Art. 360 of the Criminal Code)
This is the main component when an official discloses facts or operational information that became known to him in the course of his duties:
Basic component (paragraph 1): Imprisonment for up to 2 years or probation, as well as deprivation of the right to hold a certain state or public office.
Qualified component (paragraph 2): If the act has resulted in significant harmful consequences, the punishment is imprisonment for up to 3 years.
2. Disclosure of an investigative secret (Art. 360 in connection with Art. 198 of the Criminal Procedure Code)
If the disclosed information represents data from pending pre-trial proceedings or materials for an investigation without written permission from a supervising prosecutor:
Punished in accordance with Art. 360 of the Criminal Code (imprisonment for up to 2 years or probation).
3. Official offense / Abuse of power (Art. 282 of the Criminal Code)
If an official exceeds his authority or violates his official duties in order to obtain for himself or another benefit (e.g. political dividend, institutional PR) or to cause harm to a citizen:
Main composition (paragraph 1): Imprisonment for up to 5 years.
If the person holds a responsible official position (paragraph 2) (such as the minister) or significant harmful consequences have occurred: Imprisonment for 1 to 8 years, and the court may also order deprivation of the right to hold the relevant position.
4. Defamation by an official (Art. 148, paras. 1 and 2 in connection with Art. 147 of the Criminal Code)
If the publicized defamatory circumstance (e.g. the suggestion of complicity in a murder) does not correspond to the objective truth or the person is acquitted/the case is terminated:
Since the defamation was disseminated publicly through the mass media and was committed by an official in the course of or on the occasion of the performance of his/her duties:
It is punishable by a fine of 5,000 to 15,000 leva and public censure.
Civil and institutional liability (outside the Criminal Code):
In practice, the main blow in such cases comes from civil law:
A claim under the State Liability Act (ZODOV) and municipalities for damages): The affected person can sue the Ministry of Interior for non-pecuniary damages (damage to honor, stress, health problems), with the compensation being paid from the budget of the department.
Appeal to the ECHR (Strasbourg): Due to a violation of the presumption of innocence under Art. 6, § 2 of the Convention, the state is systematically ordered to pay compensation for public statements by senior representatives of the Ministry of Interior and the prosecutor's office. Lyubomir Andonov
I will sue him, of course.
Gergana Petrova was taken away by police officers on August 28 during Prime Minister Rumen Radev's visit to the flood-stricken municipality of Strumyani. The case raised questions about the actions of law enforcement agencies, and the Prime Minister ordered an investigation.
Demerdzhiev subsequently stated that there was no need to detain the woman, and described the decision of the officers on the spot as a mistake. The investigation by the Interior Ministry Inspectorate should establish both the actions of the specific police officers and possible shortcomings in the management and organization of the security.