All four provided for stricter penalties for, among other offences, inducement
to prostitution.
MPs from the ruling majority, Maya Manolova of the Bulgarian Socialist Party
(BSP), Yani Yanev of the National Movement Simeon II (NMSII) and the Movement
for Rights and Freedoms Chetin Kazak, introduced the first draft bill. The bill
envisages between 10 and 20 years imprisonment and a fine ranging from BGN
100,000 to 300,000 (approximtely USD $68,646.40 to $205,939.20) for 'any person
who induces or forces another person to use narcotic drugs or equivalents for
the purpose of prostitution, copulation, indecent assault or sexual intercourse
or acts aimed at sexual gratification with a person of the same sex'.
'Any person who induces another person to become a prostitute or procures
persons for indecent assault or copulation and any person who systematically
provides premises to various persons for sexual intercourse or indecent
assault' will face two to eight years in jail and a fine ranging from BGN 5,000
to 15,000 (approximately USD $3,432.32 to $10,296.96); Persons committing these
acts out of 'self-interested motives' will face three to 10 years in jail and a
fine from BGN 10,000 to 25,000 (approximately USD $6,864.64 to $17,161.60).
Independent right-wing MPs Eleonora Nikolova, Dimitar Abadjiev and Maria
Cappone introduced the second draft bill adopted. Their bill was backed by 135
MPs. The bill says: "When inducement to prostitution, copulation, indecent
assault or sexual intercourse or acts aimed at sexual gratification with a
person of the same sex is coupled with drug use, the fine will be between BGN
20,000 and 100,000, (approximtely USD $13,729.90 to $68,646.40)."
Any person who induces another person to prostitution or procures other persons
for indecent assault or copulation will face up to five years in jail and a
fine ranging from BGN 3,000 to 10,000 (approximtely USD $2,059.39 to
$6,864.90). The systematic provision of premises to various persons for sexual
intercourse or indecent assault should be punishable by the same fine, the bill
says. 'If these acts are performed out of self-interested motives, they will be
punishable by two to six years imprisonment and a fine ranging between BGN
10,000 and 20,000 (approximtely USD $6,864.90 to $13,729.90).'
The third bill was presented by Eliana Masseva, Ekaterina Mihailova and Atanas
Atanassov, from the right-wing opposition Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria. The
bill got the support of all 159 MPs present. It provided for the restoration of
Penal Code provisions deleted in 2002. The fourth draft bill came from two
independent MPs Stela Bankova and Mincho Hristov, formerly members of the
ultra-nationalist party Ataka. The Bankova-Hristov bill drew 83 votes in
favour, 23 against with 32 abstentions. The fifth adopted bill amending the
Penal Code was introduced by Svetoslav Spasov and Maria Angelieva from the
NMSII. With 128 MPs having voted in favour, the bill envisaged harsher
punishments for indecent assault on underaged persons, as well as for
generating and distributing pornographic material featuring underaged persons
on the internet.
There was criticism among initial reactions to the MP's joint initiative in
imposing harsher penalties for crimes linked to prostitution.
On March 9, Bulgarian-language daily Troud published an interview with BSP MP
Tatyana Doncheva. Doncheva was among the MPs who in 2006 supported the previous
amendment of the Penal Code, the Vanko 1 Amendment. Doncheva said that the
newly proposed changes seemed archaic to her. She said that, going by the text
of the draft bill introduced by her fellow BSP member Manolova, two-thirds of
Bulgarians should have been sent to prison because the text incriminates not
only inducement to prostitution but also any stimulation of sexual behaviour.
The four bills were tabled amid public debate on prostitution and human
trafficking problems in Bulgaria.
On March 8, a national conference on counteracting trafficking in persons was
held in Sofia. A total of 22 cases out of the 80 investigated in 2006 were
completed by the National Investigative Service (NIS), NIS deputy director
Roumen Georgiev told the conference. Cases of human trafficking outnumbered
drug cases.
Georgiev said that a law specifically on prostitution would only 'officially
recognise incomes from such a criminal business'.
But just such a bill appears to be on the Interior Ministry's agenda. On
February 13, Deputy Interior Minister Kamen Penkov told Bulgarian news agency
BTA that a working group would be ready with a Prostitution Bill within a few
months.
Currently, the status in law of prostitution is unclear. Penkov said that
legislative provisions dated back from before 1944, and after communism came to
Bulgaria at that time, the regime held that there was no prostitution in
Bulgaria.
"There is political will on the part of the state to introduce a clear and
precise legislative basis," he said. Penkov said that he expected considerable
resistance from pimps, because legalisation of prostitution would most probably
reduce their profits.
