What rights do I have if I have been the victim of a crime or a road traffic accident?

I have been the victim of a crime or a road traffic accident. What rights do I have?

Under the Criminal Procedure Code, only a natural person may have the status of a victim. If a commercial company has also suffered harm from the offence, it has the status of an injured legal entity. The rights that the law grants to the victim may pass to the victim’s heirs in the event of death. Thus, the deceased person’s ascendants or descendants may participate in the proceedings, both during the pre-trial investigation and at the trial stage, after the accused has been charged and an indictment has been filed with the court.

For a person to acquire the status of a victim, that person must have sustained pecuniary and/or non-pecuniary damage that is a direct and immediate consequence of the act. Pre-trial proceedings must also have been instituted. A preliminary inquiry conducted to establish whether there is sufficient information that a criminal offence has been committed is not, by itself, a basis for constituting a person as a victim of a crime or a road traffic accident.

Offences subject to public prosecution are prosecuted entirely by the State through the investigative authorities and the prosecution service. Therefore, if the victim wishes to participate in the criminal proceedings, the victim must make a specific request, either in writing or orally, and state an address for service in Bulgaria. A refusal by the pre-trial authorities should be made in writing so that it may be appealed before a prosecutor at the higher prosecution office.

Participation by the victim of a crime or a road traffic accident in the proceedings is not compulsory. If the person expresses a wish to participate, however, that person may take part in the criminal proceedings, concurrently or successively, as a victim, private prosecutor, civil claimant or witness.

Where a commercial company has suffered harm from an offence, it may participate, through the manager representing the company, as an injured legal entity. Its rights apply only at the pre-trial stage and are exhaustively listed by law. During the court proceedings, the injured legal entity may participate as a civil claimant. This also reflects the difference from the pre-trial stage: a legal entity may have sustained pecuniary damage, but not non-pecuniary damage such as pain and suffering, which by their nature cannot be experienced by a company.