The Supreme Judicial Council implemented an internship at the European Court of Human Rights for nine magistrates

21-04-2023 14:30

Six magistrates from the country have been on an internship or are starting an internship at the Registry of The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), and another three at the Department for the Implementation of ECHR Decisions at the Council of Europe (CoE) with the financial support of the Norwegian Financial Mechanism (NFM) 2014-2021.

Boyan Magdalinchev, representative of the Supreme Judicial Council and head of the "Increasing the professionalism in the judicial system" Project under NFM, informed about this.

At the round table, where the experience of the Bulgarian magistrates who had completed an internship at the ECHR Registry was presented yesterday, a representative of the Registry, magistrates - who had successfully completed an internship in Strasbourg, representatives of the judicial authorities, court officials and the team of the project, took part in it.

Boyan Magdalinchev shared that the implementation of this activity of the project has as its main goal to strengthen the capacity of the members of the Bulgarian judicial system in relation to the observance and implementation of the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). For this purpose, the project envisages sending Bulgarian magistrates and/or court officials to the ECHR Registry and to the Department for the Implementation of ECHR Decisions at the Council of Europe (CoE).

The internship is for a period of 10 months at the Registry and 12 months at the Department. The last three judges who started their internship at the Registry at the beginning of this month are Iva Nesheva - judge in the District Court of Sofia, Nikolay Vassilev - judge in the District Court of Slivnitsa, and Radoslava Kacherilska - judge in the District Court of Sofia.

Vanya Teneva - judge in the District Court of Stara Zagora and Svetozar Georgiev - judge in the District Court of Ihtiman are currently interns in the Department for the Implementation of Decisions of the ECHR at the Council of Europe.

The forum was attended by Nikolay Golchev - judge in the District Court of Plovdiv and Georgi Videv - judge in the Administrative Court of Pazardzhik - magistrates who had successfully completed an internship at the ECHR Registry. The internship of Georgi Videv was carried out in the period from 01.04.2021 to 31.03.2022, and the internship of Nikolay Golchev was implemented from 01.05.2022 for a period of 10 months. Both of them shared their positive impression and satisfaction from the internship, stressing that it was a unique opportunity to get to know the activity and functioning of the ECHR in depth, to exchange practical experience in an international environment and to expand one's professional horizons. 

The process of organizing and implementing the internship of Bulgarian magistrates at the ECHR Registry was explained by a representative of the ECHR Registry - Lyudmila Milanova - Fadi. The criteria and conditions that must be met by magistrates who wish to participate in the program were commented on. The final selection procedure, which is carried out by the Registry, was also explained - with an emphasis on solving a case study and good language skills in English and/or French. During the forum, both practical issues, such as the workload of the Bulgarian magistrates sent for internship at the Registry, as well as some specific issues related to the practice of the ECHR and Bulgarian legislation and national judicial practice, were discussed.