Bulgaria: Maximum Sentence of 5 to 12 years in Prison for Road Death in Particularly Severe Cases

The National Assembly increased the penalties for road deaths, setting a maximum sentence of 5 to 12 years in prison in particularly serious cases. With the finally adopted amendments to the Penal Code, the deputies recorded that if the death was caused after the use of alcohol and drugs in particularly severe cases, the punishment is imprisonment from 10 to 20 years. Parliament also increased penalties for trafficking in illegal migrants.

After editorial amendments in the plenary hall, the parliament finally decided that if the road kill was committed after the use of alcohol, narcotic substances or their analogs, the punishment is: in the case of death - imprisonment from five to fifteen years, and in particularly serious cases - imprisonment from 10 to 20 years. The same sanctions will also apply in cases of causing death on the road and after exceeding the average speed in a populated area by more than 50 km/h, or if the act was committed after passing a red light or on a pedestrian crossing.

The majority accepted that anyone who drives a motor vehicle and refuses to be tested for the use of alcohol and/or drugs after having been sanctioned for any of these acts, should be punished with up to 6 months in prison and a fine of 2,000 leva.

At the same time, the proposal from "There Is Such a People" to apply these sanctions to the refusal of a blood sample to detect alcohol and/or drugs was rejected.

The MPs also decided on the confiscation of the car of anyone with a blood alcohol content of 1.2 or after using drugs, and when the car is not owned by the offender, its equivalent will be awarded.

With other amendments finally voted in the NA, the parliament increased the penalties for trafficking in illegal migrants. Imprisonment...