Bulgaria’s Aggressive Confiscation Regime and the Opinion of the Advocate General in Case C-234/18 Thavard, Blaga Author aut Text xx# 2019 Verfassungsblog 2019-11-27 eng

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Bulgaria has established one of the most aggressive confiscation regimes in Europe, allowing seizure of assets without a criminal conviction and putting the burden of proof in the procedure on the owner. Bulgarian law, as it stands, has no specific safeguards to prevent misuse, and has been criticized by the European Court of Human Rights in cases like Dimitrovi v Bulgaria. Furthermore, questions have been raised as government opponents and critics seem to be prime targets of these confiscation measures. In a preliminary reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union from Sofia’s City Court on that issue, Advocate General Eleanor Sharpston has recently delivered her opinion which leaves the door wide open for political abuse by Bulgarian authorities. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Thavard, Blaga funded by the government Criminal Proceedings european law right to a fair trial 342 https://staging.verfassungsblog.de/carte-blanche-for-political-abuse/ 2366-7044 Max Steinbeis Verfassungsblog gGmbH 10.17176/20191127-211302-0 191127 10.17176/20191127-211302-0 Converted from MARCXML to MODS version 3.7 using MARC21slim2MODS3-7.xsl (Revision 1.140 20200717)