You have a right to an oral hearing in at least one instance of the trial. You also have the right to be present at oral hearings even if you are defended by a lawyer.
Oral hearing
You have the right to an oral hearing in at least one instance of a criminal trial. In Bulgaria your case will generally be examined in oral hearings at all stages of appeal, except the court of cassation.
There are some hearings, such as a hearing on the admissibility of an appeal or court of cassation hearings, which deal with technical or purely legal issues. In these cases the court is not obliged to hold an oral hearing as long as you have had the opportunity to submit your arguments and observations in writing.
The court of appeal must generally examine your case at public hearings.
Right to be present
You also have the right to be present at court hearings. You have that right even if you are defended by a lawyer.
The right to be present also involves a duty to attend hearings upon the invitation of the court. If you do not attend the hearings and you have not informed the court in a timely manner about the reasons for your absence, you may be brought to attend compulsory or your case may be examined without you being present.
If you have been convicted without being present at the trial (trial in absentia), this will not always be a violation of your rights. In such a case, you can ask for a new trial, when you have found out about the conviction in your absence or when you are detained because of it. In this new trial, the court must be able to review both the facts and the legal reasoning of the judgement.
You can only ask for such a new trial if you have not explicitly given up the right to be present at the first trial and if you can prove that you are not to blame for deliberately not attending the previous trial.