Courts in Bulgaria will now be able to confiscate for the benefit of the state the cars of drivers who have used alcohol or drugs.
What a year ago was accepted as a populist idea of the prosecutor’s office, is now a fact with the amendments to the Criminal Code, published in issue 67 of the State Gazette.
At the same time, Geshev’s proposed idea was for confiscation at over 2 parts per million of alcohol, while the one adopted by the deputies lowers the bar – over 1.2 parts per million for the first offense and just over 0.5 parts per million for the second, reports Automedia.
After the vote on the changes, the media focused mainly on the increased penalties for causing death on the road, and the new paragraph 5 to Article 343b went unnoticed.
It reads: “In the cases under para. 1 – 4, the court shall confiscate in favor of the state the motor vehicle that was used to commit the crime and is the property of the perpetrator, and when the perpetrator is not the owner – to award its equivalent”.
Here are the four cases described in the paragraphs in question, in which the confiscation of the car is reached:
– 1. If you drive with more than 1.2 parts per million of alcohol, for which 1 to 3 years in prison and a fine of 200 to 1000 BGN are also applicable.
– 2. If you have already been convicted under point 1, in the case of a repeat violation with more than 0.5 per thousand, the car will be confiscated again, and 1 to 5 years in prison and a fine of 500 to 1500 BGN are imposed.
– 3. If you drive a car after using “narcotic substances or their analogues”. Here the punishments are confiscation, 1 to 3 years in prison and a fine of 500 to 1,500 BGN.
– 4. In the event of a relapse under point 3, the punishment is confiscation, 1 to 5 years in prison and a fine of 500 to 1,500 BGN.
With the recent increase in deaths caused by drunk or drugged drivers, recidivism forfeiture seems an understandable measure. But many experts have expressed doubts about paragraph 3 because of the less than reliable drug tests used by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Enough cases of false positive tests, including after the use of harmless medications, have been publicized in the media. Marijuana legalization activists point out that the current testing system gives a positive result even for someone who smoked more than a week ago.
“This would be normal procedure if we had fair testing and identification of the truly dangerous drivers and not just the ones who used a week ago,” commented the Liberty 420 Facebook page.
The opinion of Automedia.bg: Increasing the penalties as a measure against their non-application is a typical Bulgarian absurdity. And the previous sanctions would be enough if they were applied and applied to everyone. Repeat offenders who have enjoyed the protection of police, prosecutors and judges will continue to do so after the changes. Impounded cars will only be of the “less equal”. It is interesting that the legislators did not think of passing the same measure in the opposite direction: for example, confiscating the property of corrupt prosecutors, judges and policemen. Although the state could gain a lot more from this.
dnes.bg
