In its decision of January 19 in the case of I. P. v. Bulgaria (no. 72936/14) the court in Strasbourg ruled that Bulgaria has violated Article 5.4 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), regarding the rights of detainees to challenge the lawfulness of their detention in court.

The story of I. P.

I. P. was born in Sofia in 1999. In early 2012, the local Commission for Combating Juvenile Delinquency imposed on him a number of corrective measures, including supervision of a public educator, prohibition from entering certain places and meeting certain people, and prohibition from changing his current address.

Two years later, in February 2014, the Commission concluded that these measures had had no effect on his behavior and petitioned the court to place him in a correctional boarding school (CBS). In response, I.P. argued before the court that he feels good among his friends and that his stepfather is to blame for his problems.

In early April, I.P. fled from his home but was arrested by the police two weeks later. He was then sent to a home for temporary accommodation of minors and adolescents operated by the Interior Ministry, as specified under the Juvenile Delinquency Act of 1958. There, I.P. had to wait for the court's decision to place him in a correctional boarding school. That happened in mid-May.

During the 30 days spent in the institution, the boy was given no chance to challenge the lawfulness of his detention. The facility looks precisely as a police detention facility and functions the same way - all rooms are with bars and locked doors. I.P. received no access to legal assistance, education or other care owed to children deprived of liberty.

Domestic laws and case law

The facts in this case, along with the violations, raise a number of questions about the problems in Bulgaria’s juvenile justice and child protection systems.

Back in 2011, in the pilot case of A. and others v. Bulgaria, the European Court of Human Rights found violations regarding the lack of effective remedies against the prosecutor’s decision to extend the detention period in such institutions.

In September 2015, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee started a campaign for immediate reform in the juvenile justice system. The Bulgarian government agreed to implement a radical reform, including repealing the outdated Juvenile Delinquency Act of 1958, but so far this has not happened.