International Association of prosecutors
Newsletter – July 2020
Can you tell us why you wanted to become a prosecutor and what is your role now?
It would not be a lie to tell you that, I have known what I want to do since I remember myself - literally. As a child of an investigating magistrate my life has always been connected with criminal law. I will never forget - this is one of my very first childhood memories – when one night the phone at home rang and my father very quickly started dressing himself in order to go out. I was really surprised and a little bit suspicious what he would do at that late time and asked him, the he answered “I am going to catch some bad people who do wrong things”. At that very moment in my child’s eyes my father looked like a real superhero. Later on I became interested in everything, connected with criminal law – what is a crime, what is a punishment, what is the structure of the Bulgarian Judiciary. By the time I was in high school, I already knew that I was going to study “Law” and in the very first year as a student in the Faculty of Law I had made a deep research what exactly was the procedure to become a magistrate (in Republic of Bulgaria prosecutors are part of the Judiciary) and I had a detailed plan for the next 5 years. Therefore, my choice to become a prosecutor was thoughtful, precisely planned and it was not a surprise for none of my friends and relatives.
Right after graduating from Law School, in 2016 I successfully passed the State exam for junior prosecutors and started working in a Prosecutor’s office, situated in a small and sunny town of Sandanski, where life was very calm, people were not afraid to let their children play outside by themselves and my colleagues in the Prosecutor’s Office of Sandanski took care of me as if I was a child (I was 26 by that time) – they are the people who helped me in all aspects (practically and theoretically) in the very beginning of being a junior prosecutor, which is always hard and stressful. Due to their care and help I promised myself that if I have the chance to teach someone else in future the way my colleagues gifted me with their knowledge, I would definitely do it.
Nowadays I am a prosecutor in the biggest Prosecutor’s office in Bulgaria – Sofia Regional Prosecutor’s Office, and my work is connected primarily with the so called economic crimes (frauds, misappropriation etc.). Behind my work obligations as a prosecutor I take part in different initiatives, connected with teaching criminal law in primary schools, high schools and universities in Bulgaria.
Please, give an outline of this initiative you are involved with regard to teaching criminal law to children. Is this a school programme you are involved in or how did it come about?
I am very proud that in our small country there are so many initiatives for training small children as well as high school students in the sphere of Law, in particular – Criminal Law and it becomes a tradition. Within the Judiciary, on the initiative of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), a few years ago an educational program, aiming to enrich the legal knowledge and culture among students as well as increasing trust in the judiciary, was implemented. The program exists on the basis of an agreement between SJC and the Ministry of Education and Science and it is focused on high school students in 10th-12th grade, i.e. between 16 and 18 years old. Judges, prosecutors, investigating magistrates and judicial officials visit high schools in the role of lectors, as our involvement is absolutely voluntary and pro bono. Among the aforementioned educational program some of the courts and procesutor’s offices have special “Open door days”. As I mentioned, 2 years ago I worked in Sandanski Regional Prosecutor’s Office, where the colleagues both from the Court and the Prosecutor’s Office were very active in organizing academic meetings with kids. This is how, during a very hot summer in 2018, I found myself involved in a simultaneous court proceedings, which we organized with students in 6th grade from Sofia who had come to visit Sandanski. We gave them our official robes and they were real prosecutors, judges and attorneys at law. It was extremely exciting for all the participants.
Another really meaningful initiative in which I had the pleasure to take part in, is organized by the Ministry of interior in Republic of Bulgaria and it is called „Children’s Police Department”. The program is focused on younger children, which makes our job as lectors much more harder since we have not only to teach, but also to translate the very specific legal professions and terms into a language, which can be understood by a 10-year-old child. For instance, a few months ago I visited two primary schools in Sofia and I thought children in 4th grade. In one of the classes in the beginning of the lesson the students knew almost nothing about what a prosecutor means, what we do, etc., and in the end of the lesson 4 of the kids said they would like to become prosecutors in future.
What do you see are the benefits of this initiative for children and society?
The benefits are a lot, but in my personal opinion the most important one is the opportunity to help for building knowledge and value system in young people. I was lucky to be born in a family, where to be as much educated as possible was not just a purpose of my parents, it was a mission. That is why I would be really happy if I could transmit even to few children in Bulgaria my knowledge. Because after all, children are the future. But in order to make this future bright and good, it is extremely important to teach our children which the universal human values are as well as to teach them to know and respect the rule of law – this is the way to raise and educate responsible and wise young people. That is why teaching is not just an academic activity. Teaching is a mission. And all of us are responsible for it.
Given your involvement in this youth programme, what advice would do you have for young up and coming prosecutors?
I would advise the younger colleagues to be more active in taking part in the abovementioned educational initiatives not only because we, by being prosecutors, judges and investigating magistrates in practice, can help for enriching the legal culture of the students, for prevention of the infant and juvenile delinquency and public awareness, but most of all because there is a lot we can be thought by children and we should keep than in mind.