Information newsletter
Issue 1(13), January 2005

News, news, news
Selected by Diana Bancheva, AIP

On Monday, January 24, the Supreme Administrative Court sent the case of the environmental activist Peter Penchev to the Sofia City Court for an actual hearing. Petar Penchev filed an information request to the Ministry of Environment and Water about the declarations of the independent experts who had written the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report on the construction of the Nuclear Power Plant “Belene”. Access had been denied on the grounds of personal data protection. The Sofia City Court will judge whether the declarations, which aim to prove that experts have no personal interests in the implementation of the projects, programs, and investment offers, should be classified or the public interest prevails. According to AIP lawyer Alexander Kashumov, all implementation activities of the Belene project are illegal, until the Supreme Administrative Court rules on the lawfulness of the Cabinet decision for building a second nuclear power plant in Bulgaria.

The longest pending lawsuit on access to information will come to an end in a month. Three-member panel of the Supreme Administrative Court will make its judgement on the refusal of the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor’s Office to provide a copy of its 2001 report on the misuse of communications intercepts. The Office denied access as it stated that the report was classified as official secret. However, the two-year term of classification has expired and the Court is to rule in the public’s interest to know.

The Supreme Court of Cassation will ensure full transparency of the expenses made in the reconstruction of the Judicial Chamber in Sofia. The promise was made following a number of questions about the reconstruction of the court building and the large amount of funds spent until now.

A public register of declassified archival documents of the Minsitry of Interior will be available to the public. This was announced by the Deputy minister of Interior Bojko Kotsev, who explained that the register is in the reading room of the Archival Information department and is accessible to everyone.

Have companies close to the Bulgarian Socialist Party participated in deals with Saddam Hussein, a case known as Iraqgate? The President’s refusal to provide the security services’ report on the issue was questioned before the Sofia City Court on Thursday, January 27. The view expressed by the President's lawyer was that he has no power to declassify the report. The hearing was initially appointed for last autumn and cancelled because the the President had not been duly summoned. The CIA published its report on Iraqgate on the Internet in October 2004.

A personal chip will serve as an ID, bank card, permit for entrance into different institutions, transportation ticket and numerous other things. This idea is currently being implemented by the Bulgarian identification documents department of the National Police Office.