Prosecutor General of the Republic of Bulgaria Ivan Geshev and H.E. Dr. Rob Dixon, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Bulgaria, opened a conference on "Cybercrime", which is being held at the Training Center of the Prosecutor's Office in Tsigov Chark in the period 28 - 30 November, 2022. During the conference Bulgarian magistrates will be trained in the best practices for combating cybercrime by British experts - Adrian Flesher, a representative of the Crown Prosecution Service and Eva Labeda from the National Crime Agency in the United Kingdom.
Deputy Prosecutor General and Director of National Investigation Service (NIS) Borislav Sarafov and Svetoslav Vasilev, Head of the "Cybercrimes" department at the NIS, also took part in the opening of the forum.
H.E. Rob Dixon, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Bulgaria, expressed his satisfaction with the good cooperation between Bulgarian and British law enforcement authorities. "It is a pleasure to be here with you, together with colleagues from the Crown Prosecution Service and the UK National Crime Agency, as well as with all colleagues from Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office and National Investigation Service, we work daily in cooperation," said Rob Dixon.
"We are facing common threats - cyber and online crimes and various types of threats in the Internet space. They are spread all over the world, in the United Kingdom, and in Bulgaria, too. We're here to learn together about the best practices in cybercrime detection and prosecution. It is a pleasure that we are here together with all our Bulgarian partners to improve our work against cybercrime and serious organized crime," added the ambassador.
Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev emphasized that as a result of the unsuccessful legislative changes which closed the specialized justice, the main priority of the Prosecutor's Office is currently the restoration of specialization in the 28 district prosecutor's offices for investigating the most serious crimes in Bulgaria. "The closure of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office is a national tragedy because it set us back 12 years. Unfortunately, thanks to a former interior minister, the Ministry of Interior is also in a tragic state, namely that it uncovers crimes. Fortunately, the judiciary is stable. We are building a new specialization in cybercrime, organized crime and terrorism. That is why trainings are extremely important, as well as drawing from the experience of the best in these fields. Direct and personal contact, in addition to exchanging experience also helps to achieve a faster result in the fight against crime," Geshev pointed out. He emphasized that the Prosecutor's Office works in excellent cooperation with all countries of the European Union, as well as with partner countries such as Great Britain.
Adrian Flesher from the Crown Prosecution Service said that he recently had an opportunity to meet personally with Bulgarian prosecutors and Deputy Prosecutor General and Director of National lnvestigation Service Borislav Sarafov, who were on a visit to the UK. "By strengthening Bulgarian-British cooperation, we will be able to improve our work in the prosecution of cybercrimes, which know no borders. I look forward to getting know each other and building together mechanisms to fight cybercrime and serious crime,” said Adrian Flesher.
Deputy Prosecutor General and Director of National Investigation Service Borislav Sarafov expressed his gratitude to H.E. Dr. Rob Dixon, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Bulgaria, without whose support the training conference would not have been possible. "Special thanks also to our colleague Adrian Flesher, whom I had the honor of visiting in February this year. The week we spent at the Crown Prosecution Service and National Crime Agency in the United Kingdom gave me necessary knowledge and ideas to structure a little later a Fight against Cybercrime Department at NIS, which are the crimes of our time. Unfortunately of the future as well. It will be an achievement for us to be able to draw on the exceptional professional experience and organization at the highest world level that exists in the Crown Prosecution Service and the National Crime Agency in the UK," said Borislav Sarafov.