Bulgaria to launch investigation against Kremlin regime’s ‘aggression’

Bulgarian authorities are preparing amendments to the country’s criminal code to allow prosecution of the Kremlin regime for the war of aggression against Ukraine, Bulgarian Justice Minister Atanas Slavov told Euractiv Bulgaria.

“Our goal is for Bulgaria to be able to launch criminal proceedings, exercising universal jurisdiction, for the committed war crimes and crimes against peace and humanity in Ukraine. This will be an act of support for international efforts to investigate Russian aggression in Ukraine,” Atanas Slavov said.

According to documents seen by Euractiv, which were discussed at Coreper II meetings last year, Bulgaria is among a minority of EU countries that have not launched criminal proceedings for war crimes in Ukraine or for evading EU sanctions against Russia.

“It is crucial that Bulgaria can initiate proceedings for war crimes in Ukraine, exercising universal jurisdiction, given the large number of Ukrainian refugees in the country. They can testify,” Slavov told Euractiv.

There are almost 100,000 Ukrainian refugees in Bulgaria, many of them from areas where fighting is taking place, such as Kherson. The Bulgarian minority in Ukraine numbers 200,000 people, many of whom can also contribute to the investigation of war crimes following the start of Russian aggression.

Once the data is collected from all European countries, the evidence could be invaluable in setting up a future war crimes tribunal in Ukraine.

“I would be very happy if such a step would help the future international investigation by an international tribunal, and Bulgaria would actively participate in the efforts of the international community,” Slavov commented.

Many European countries have already launched investigations, in some of which hundreds of thousands of people are being questioned, with the Baltic republics being the most active, according to documents seen by Euractiv.

In November last year, Bulgaria signed up to point 7 of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s peace formula, which provides for restoring justice and prosecuting crimes committed in Ukraine.

Justice Minister Atanas Slavov said that the future inclusion of the crime of “aggression” in the Bulgarian Penal Code “will allow the prosecution of the military-political leadership that issued the orders for the relevant military actions in Ukraine.”

“Because the evidence of war crimes on the ground often reaches a medium level. While the crime of “aggression” is for the high management level. At the European level, there is the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine. Our idea is for Bulgaria to actively contribute to European efforts because we have committed to this,” the Bulgarian Minister of Justice said.

(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)