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From:
MKapoustin [MKapoustin@Hotmail.com]
Sent:
Monday, February 07, 2005 4:51 PM
To:
'albania@centrum-group.com'
Subject:
Albanian citizens Sofia Prison_Law
Attachments:
EC Convention On Validity International Criminal Judgments - Transfer.pdf; 2004.11.09Canada FA to BGL Protest_Page_1.jpg; 2004.11.09 Canada FA to BGL Protest_Page_2.jpg; 2005.01.17US Ambassadorr.doc
Dear First Secretary Mara,
 
Your citizens have asked that I write you on their behalf and provide the information which theyconsider relevant. They have also given me the freedom to provide my own observations. I willdo the best that I can under the circumstances.
 
In advance I apologize for any typographical errors.
 
Also, I have been asked to express to you their collective gratitude for the interest you areexhibiting. The citizens of Albanian, as I and the other foreign citizens here, are each hoping fordiplomatic solutions that will result in (1) our equal access and treatment under Bulgariannational law [something that does not exist] and (2) our eventual repatriation with the familieswe have left behind, for your citizens even a prison in Albanian near their wives, children andparents is preferable to remaining in an unsympathetic and prejudiced Bulgaria.
 
Your [Albanian] citizens, as all other foreign citizens here having fines, are routinely refusedtheir transfer requests [there are some 63 foreigners, mostly Turkish and the next are theAlbanians and Macedonian Albanians] or are routinely denied access to judicial procedures[parole] only because of their Albanian nationality and their property status – this discriminationis explained to your citizens as a result the money fines they cannot pay and their Albaniannationality [there are 23 foreign prisoners who should be free and several are citizens ofAlbanian].The First Secretary must also consider the fact of fear, his citizens are afraid to confrontinjustices. They feel threatened by the Sofiaprison administration and so are afraid to use thelegal procedures and other remedies open to them. As a result the discrimination and abusesremain concealed.Also the First Secretary should consider the facts of the level of education among the prisonersand their activities before entering prison, most being truck or bus drivers. It is also as a result ofthis that there is little effective collective action.
 
A brief explanation of the procedures which may be of interest to the First Secretary andaffecting the rights of Albanian citizens are the following;
 
1)
 
Once the Albanian Citizen is Sentenced
 
According to
Article 376§4 of the Bulgarian Criminal Code of Procedure,
once anAlbanian citizen is criminally sentenced the collection of any “fine” or court costs” istransferred by the sentencing criminal court to the Bulgarian Agency for StateTakings;
 
2)
 
The Bulgarian Agency for State Takings – Refusals to Issue a Decision onCollection of the Fine or Court Cost
 
The Bulgarian Agency for State Takings has jurisdiction only in Bulgaria. It thereforehas no policy or practice for collecting debts outside of Bulgaria.
The Prosecutorand the Prison are no legally competent to collect the fines or court costs ofAlbanian citizens and are not permitted by law to attempt to coerce this moneyby denying citizens of Albania their legal rights.
 
That said, it is a fact that such coercion exists [see below section on transfersand parole]
 
 
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Officials at the Agency for State Takings [public executors] routinely refuse anyattempt at collecting money owned the Bulgarian State from non-resident Albanian[foreign] citizens having no property or bank accounts in Bulgaria.
The FirstSecretary should remember that the cars and trucks of his citizens have alsobeen confiscated for the benefit of the Bulgarian State
.
 
Agency Officials in fact refuse to do anything at all except issue letters that can beparaphrased as follows “t
he Albanian citizen has no property or bank accounts in Bulgaria and it is therefore impossible to end the proceedings [fo collection] against the Albanian citizens 
”. This oxymoron is an objectivemanifestation of the unreasonable unwillingness for Officials for the BulgarianAgency for State Takings to issue a decision that writes, to paraphrase “
the amoun is uncollectible, we therefore end the proceedings against the Albanian Citizen according to Article 187§4 of the Bulgarian Tax Procedure Code 
” [see below].
 
From the facts and years of correspondence it becomes obvious that unlessdiplomatic or legal pressure is brought to bear on Bulgaria’s Government Minister forFinance - Agency for State Takings – that it will be impossible otherwise forimprisoned citizens of Albania to force Agency Officials to meet their obligations toAlbanian citizens
id est 
to issue a Ruling on the “uncollectability” of the fine.
 
3)
 
Bulgaria’s Prosecutor General Refuses Transfer Requests – On Account ofAgency for State Takings non-action
 
When Albanian citizens request transfer under the Convention for the Transfer ofSentenced Persons, the Office of Bulgaria’s Prosecutors General – Filchev – Supreme Prosecutor for the Republic of Bulgaria, refuses to process the transferapplications on the grounds that the Albanian citizen has not produced documentsfrom the Agency for State Takings that the fine and court costs have beenextinguished.
 
Also, when Albanian citizens request that the penalty “fine” be transferred to Albaniatogether with the penalty “depravation of liberty”, the reply of the SupremeProsecutor is the following, to paraphrase “
the Republic of Bulgariahas no practice to request other states collect debts owed to the Bulgaria State,therefore your request for a transfer procedure is denied 
”.
 
4)
 
Bulgaria’s Prosecutor General Issues Instructions to the Sofia PrisonAdministration – No Albanian [Foreign] citizen is be recommend for Parole ifnot having Paid the Penalty “Fine” – Again on Account of Agency for StateTakings non-action
 
According to Bulgarian national law, Albanian citizens are to be released on paroleonce having served half their sentences [see below Article 70 Bulgarian CriminalCode; Article 17 Bulgarian Law for the Execution of Punishments; and Article 415and the following Bulgarian Criminal Code of Procedure].
 
However Bulgaria’s Prosecutor General has issued a written instruction to SofiaPrison Officials that prison Officials are no to recommend any Albanian citizen forparole if he has not paid the Bulgarian State. Any Official doing so will be subject toadministrative prosecution and penalties [this according to prison officials].
 
The First Secretary will discover that (1) there is no legal provision in the Bulgarian
 
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Criminal Code that requires money obligations be paid by a prisoner prior to releaseon Parole, and; (2) that Bulgarian citizens are not required to pay fines or court costsas a condition of their parole.
 
As a result citizens of Albania are required to serve sentences 2 times that ofBulgarian citizens having the same conviction id est A Bulgarian citizen, first timeoffender with a 10 years sentence will be free in approximately 5 years. An Albaniancitizen with the same 10 year sentence will not be freed by Bulgarian Prosecutorsand Prison Officials until the end of his 10
th
year. The result is that a citizen ofAlbania has an effective sentence of 20 years.
 
request transfer under the Convention for the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, theOffice of Bulgaria’s Prosecutors General – Filchev – Supreme Prosecutor for theRepublic of Bulgaria
 
5)
 
Bulgaria’s Prosecutor General has Issued A Directive to the Sofia PrisonAdministration and Sofia City Prosecutors that – No Albanian [Foreign] citizenis be released on Parole
 
There is a disturbing development since December 2004. No foreign citizen hasbeen released on parole at half sentence, paid fine or no paid fine. Anecdotalevidence suggests that Prosecutors General Filchev has issued instructions to hisprosecutors, Sofia City judges and Sofia Prison Administrators that non-Bulgarian notresident in Bulgaria are to be paroled. Albanian [foreign] nationals are not to haveany rights under Article 70 of the Bulgarian Criminal Code.
 
A number of Ambassadors and consular officials have without success attempted tomeet with Prosecutors General Filchev, this includes the Ambassador for Canada. Asa result it is thus far impossible to ascertain why Albanian and other foreign citizensare to be denied their legal rights under Bulgarian criminal and civil law.
 
6)
 
Your citizens’ rights to transfer and parole are affected by the following Bulgariannational laws and treaties.
 
a) 
 
I am sure you have the
European Convention on the Transfer o Sentenced Persons 
and will not bother with that here
.
 
b) 
 
The Bulgarian procedure for transfer is regulated by
Chapter 22 Section III of the Bulgarian Criminal Code of Procedure 
it reads;
 
“Section III.Delivery pursuant to an International Treaty of Persons Sentenced to Imprisonment for Serving the Term in the State, Whose Citizens They Are (New section, SG, No. 52/1980) Competent Body Art. 442. (1) (Amend., SG, No. 50/1995; suppl., No. 64/1997) The delivery o persons sentenced by a court of the Republic of Bulgaria for sustaining the punishment in the state, whose citizens they are and the acceptance o Bulgarian citizens sentenced by a foreign court for sustaining the punishment in the Republic of Bulgaria, shall be decided by the Chie Prosecutor by an agreement with the competent body of the other state,where there is a consent in writing of the convicted.(2) The decision for delivery or acceptance of the convicted may be taken 
 
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