Story thread · 2 reports / 1 sources

Continue the Change Proposes Mandatory Publication of Presidential Pardon Decrees

bta.bg · 2hShare

The Continue the Change party is proposing amendments to the State Gazette Act that would require the President's Administration to publish pardon decrees, party leader Assen Vassilev told a news conference in Parliament on Thursday. He said the bill includes a provision requiring all pardon decrees issued to date that have not been published to be made public. The issue of the transparency of pardons has come under renewed scrutiny after it emerged that a convicted drug trafficker had been pardoned in 2022, ten years before the end of his prison sentence. On September 11, Yes, Bulgaria and Continue the Change separately called on President Iotova to explain why, as vice-president in 2022, she had pardoned the man. They pointed out that he was arrested in 2025 with 5 kg of cocaine. Later that day, the President's Administration said the pardon granted by Iotova in late 2022 followed a recommendation by the presidential Pardon Commission and an expert assessment of the prisoner's health

First report: Yes, Bulgaria Seeks Documents on Pardons of Five People Convicted for Drug-Related Offences — bta.bg, 2d