Borislav Mihaylov
borislav_mihaylov.bg@abv.bg


A video-conference link will connect district courts in the cities of Sofia and Plovdiv and the Sliven prison, announced yesterday Deputy Minister of Justice, Daniela Masheva. She added that the project for the introduction of high technologies in the judiciary will be realised under the Criminal Justice Programme of the European Commission. Its total value is € 542,483, while there is 10% co-financing on the part of the Ministry of Justice.

The bulk of the funds will be invested in modern equipment and software, explained Project Manager, Violeta Nikolova. Resources have also been provided for the training of people who will avail themselves of videoconferencing, as well as for the printing of a manual containing the best practices in this field. The IT-project coordinator, Mircho Marchev, assured that the choice of video equipment and software will be in compliance with the maximum technological compatibility, both in terms of the already installed systems at the Sofia City Court (SCC) and the prison in the Sofia, as well as in terms of the technology used in other EU member-states. Due to differences in standards, several years ago, experts from Sweden had to deliver specialised equipment to Bulgaria for the video conference interrogation of a witness and, afterwards, demounted it.

The video connection on Bulgarian territory will be established via the capacities of the communication network connecting public institutions, while cross-border calls will be conducted via an encrypted Internet connection, explained Marchev in response to a question posed by Klassa daily.

Text to image: Deputy Minister of Justice, Daniela Masheva is convinced that the introduction of video conference technology will not only be cost-efficient but will also accelerate and facilitate transnational legal proceedings.