You should be able to communicate from prison with courts, state institutions and international institutions to learn about your rights, complain about any violations of these or about other matters. This correspondence must not be monitored or censored.
According to Bulgarian law, postage costs should be met by the prisoners. In exceptional circumstances, if you cannot afford it yourself, the prison administration has to cover the costs of correspondence.
Restrictions and monitoring
Under Bulgarian law, there are no special rules, governing the restrictions and monitoring of prisoners’ correspondence with state institutions and international bodies.
example Your correspondence with the European Court of Human Rights should not be delayed or monitored.
However, in exceptional circumstances human rights permit the monitoring of your correspondence with other State or international organizations for security reasons, and only if seriously justified. The State must choose the least restrictive method of monitoring, depending on the type of security concerns.
example If there are good grounds to believe that a letter from a state institution contains illegal objects, the letter may be opened and checked for such objects, but should not be read.
If privileged correspondence is to be monitored, there should be procedures established for ensuring that this correspondence is not monitored or censored beyond the degree necessary.
example Such letters should be opened in your presence or the presence of an independent party, like as investigative judge or the prosecutor. The opening of the letter should also be recorded.
What human rights violation may there be?
Privacy and freedom of correspondence
If your correspondence with state institutions or international organizations has been unlawfully monitored or restricted, this will result in a violation of your right to privacy and freedom of correspondence.
Right to a fair trial and an effective remedy
In certain circumstances, if your letter has been censored or delayed and you have consequently been unable to complain to the court or other institution about a violation of your rights, your right to a fair trial or to an effective remedy may have been violated.
How to complain
If you believe that your correspondence has been unlawfully monitored or restricted, you should complain about it to the Bulgarian Prison Administration, the prosecutor or the Administrative Court. Read more about how to complain.