Arrested in Sofia: 72 hours to get you before a court

Who reaches this page and what they are holding

A relative has had a short call from Bulgaria, perhaps from a station in Sofia, perhaps from a friend of the person arrested, and has the word arrested, the name of a city and little else. The family wants to know whether the person is safe, who is responsible and how long the process can last before a court is involved.

Another reader is a person who has been held and released, or who is waiting, and has been told that the prosecutor can extend detention for a limited time and that the only purpose of that detention is to bring them before a court. The words are strange, the interpreter is a stranger, and the person wants to understand what is being decided and by whom.

A further reader is someone with an Italian connection: a person arrested in Bulgaria on an Italian European Arrest Warrant, a person who has learned that a warrant may exist, or a person whose Bulgarian business or property is linked to events in Italy. For this reader the question is not only whether Bulgaria can hold them, but whether and how they will be sent to Italy, and the surrender hearing is a separate stage with its own rules.

What all of them need is orientation: a clock is running, a court will decide, and nothing should be said or signed in the meantime without understanding it. The sections that follow give that orientation in the order in which the questions usually arise, starting with the effect on daily life and ending with the vocabulary on the papers.

How detention in Bulgaria disrupts ordinary life

The immediate effect is that the person is gone. A detainee cannot answer calls, open email or move money, and those who depend on that person notice within hours. A colleague waiting in a meeting room, a hotel expecting a guest, a family at home who have not heard since morning: each fills the silence with explanations of its own, and some of them will be wrong.

For a visitor, the journey is over. Flights and onward connections are lost, a car or luggage may be left somewhere that cannot be reached, and a phone or laptop may be taken. Business trips collapse and the explanation given to colleagues has to be short and true: delayed by a legal matter, with a lawyer dealing with it.

For a resident of Bulgaria or a person working there, the effects spread. An employer may suspend work. A landlord or bank may react to the word arrest as if a verdict had been reached. Dependants have to manage without a signature, a car or an income for as long as the case lasts. Make a plain list for whoever acts at home: bills, appointments, keys, passwords, medicines and anything with a date.

The court's decision brings further changes. Remand in custody means weeks of uncertainty and separation. House arrest means that the person is at home but cannot work, travel or move freely, and that other members of the household live under its conditions. Either way, plan for weeks, not hours, and decide who is responsible for what before relatives begin telephoning everyone they can find.

Decisions to make before a court sees you

The earliest decision is whether to speak. Officers will ask for an account, often in a manner that makes talking seem sensible. What you say is recorded, translated and compared with everything you say afterwards. Waiting for a lawyer may annoy those holding you and make the day longer, but it protects you from a mistranslated or incomplete statement. You are choosing between speed and control, and a sentence cannot be taken back.

The next decision is whom to rely on. You have the right to a lawyer and to an interpreter, and both can be provided. A lawyer provided to you may meet you only shortly before the hearing. Appointing your own means that someone outside has to find, brief and pay a lawyer in Bulgaria while managing everything else. The trade is between a convenient lawyer and a prepared one.

A further decision concerns the hearing. The court can order remand in custody or house arrest on the prosecutor's proposal, and cannot impose either in your absence. You can contest the proposal, which means preparing arguments and evidence of ties in very little time, or you can accept the process and rely on later review. Contesting is demanding and can fail if it is not prepared; accepting risks a heavier measure than was needed.

Finally, decide who tells the outside world. Consular notification is available for foreign nationals on request. Name a single person to relay messages and ask everyone else to wait.

Papers and facts to put together now

A lawyer can only argue from what exists on paper. Collect what you can, photograph rather than move originals and keep copies in more than one place.

• Passport or identity card and any residence or work papers, scanned in full.
• The time and place of detention as exactly as you know them, because the limit the law sets is counted from that moment.
• Every document you were given, in its original language, photographed whole. Do not rely on a spoken summary.
• The names of officers and interpreters you dealt with, what was said about your rights, and whether you asked for a lawyer and when.
• Evidence of ties: an employment letter, a lease, family records, business registration, proof of residence. The court asks whether you would stay and answer the case.
• Travel papers: tickets, bookings and messages that explain why you were in Bulgaria.
• Any Italian paper connected to the matter, such as a summons, a warrant or a notice, and whether you have been investigated in Italy before.
• Phone and account information that your lawyer should know about, shared only with the lawyer.
• Medical information and medicines that custody staff must know about.

Write down what is missing as well. A short honest list lets the lawyer decide where to look first.

Questions to ask a lawyer about Bulgarian detention

These are the questions people outside the profession rarely think to ask, and the answers shape the days ahead.

• Has the prosecutor extended the detention, and when will I be brought before a court?
• What measure is the prosecutor likely to propose, remand in custody or house arrest, and why?
• What evidence of ties will matter most to this court, and how quickly can it be produced?
• Will you or a colleague attend the hearing in person, and who will speak for me if it is brought forward?
• How is the interpreter chosen, and can I object if the translation is poor?
• If a measure is imposed, how can it be challenged, by whom and how fast?
• Does any Italian proceeding or warrant exist, and would it change the way we approach the hearing?
• What will happen to my phone, computer and documents that were taken?
• What should my family say to my employer, bank and landlord, and what should they avoid?

If an answer is unclear, ask again. A defender who explains the file, the options and the cost of each in words you can repeat to your family is showing you how the case will be run, and you should leave every conversation knowing what comes next and who is responsible for it.

When Bulgaria and Italy are both involved

A case in Sofia often has an Italian side that was never mentioned to the people around the arrested person: a former address, a company, a bank account, an earlier investigation. Authorities exchange information faster than people assume, so telling your lawyer everything from the start avoids surprises at the hearing.

Documents are the first practical difficulty. Anything issued in Italy, such as a residence certificate, a business record, a court paper or a medical file, will probably need translating into the language of the proceedings, and some will need a formal certificate before a court accepts them. Documents issued in Bulgaria that are needed in Italy require the same treatment. Ask relatives to find originals now and keep them safe, because translation and certification take longer than a hearing allows.

Time and post matter. Offices in the countries keep similar hours, but a request made late in the day is rarely dealt with until the next, and weekends and public holidays stop everything. Post between the countries is too slow for custody matters, so scans go at once and originals follow.

Defenders must speak to each other. The Bulgarian lawyer knows the court and the procedure; an Italian lawyer knows the Italian file and can say whether an Italian measure exists. They should agree on one account of the facts and divide the work: who speaks to the court, who prepares documents, who talks to the family. The consulate can confirm detention, check on conditions and pass messages, but it does not defend you and does not pay for a lawyer.

How the studio takes instructions on a Bulgarian arrest

Contact the studio by telephone or email using the details on this page. The Rome, Milan and Naples offices take the same calls, and conversations can be held in Italian or English. Say who is detained, where, when, what papers exist and whether an Italian measure is involved. If you cannot say, send photographs and we will read them and explain what they are.

The studio does not replace the Bulgarian defender. A person held in Sofia needs a lawyer who can appear before the Bulgarian court, and the studio works with correspondents there. Our part is to explain to the family and to the person held what is happening, to establish whether an Italian warrant or proceeding exists, to coordinate with the Bulgarian defender, to prepare documents of ties that can be translated, and to handle the Italian side of the case.

The appointment is made in writing, signed by the person concerned or, where that is impossible, by a family member on their behalf, and fees are explained before work begins. The initial conversation is about facts and priorities, not reassurance, and we say plainly what depends on the court. Send documents as clear scans labelled by date, with a line saying what each is. We are reachable outside office hours for urgent developments, and we tell the family at each stage what has been done and what must happen next.

Behaviour that harms a defence in the first hours

Most damage in these cases is done by people trying to help themselves. Avoid the following.

• Do not sign what you cannot read. A signature is taken as agreement to the text, whatever was said aloud.
• Do not talk about the case with officers, interpreters or other detainees. None of them owes you confidentiality, and any of them may be asked to repeat what you said.
• Do not discuss the facts on calls or visits with relatives. Conversations may be monitored and relatives questioned later.
• Do not post or message on social media or in group chats. A sentence meant to reassure friends becomes evidence.
• Do not delete anything from phones, email or cloud accounts. Removal looks like concealment.
• Do not contact a complainant or witness to settle or apologise. It can be read as interference with the case.
• Do not accept that detention is routine. Its only lawful purpose is to bring you before a court, and you or your lawyer can say so.
• Do not change your account between hearings without advice. Inconsistency hurts more than silence.

Each of these keeps your options open until a defender who has seen the file can advise you.

If you have already done one of these things, do not panic and do not try to repair it yourself. Tell your lawyer exactly what happened, in plain words and without softening it, so that the defence can take it into account before anyone else raises it. Concealing a mistake is worse than the mistake.

The expressions you will meet in the file

A short vocabulary recurs in these cases. Knowing it makes the papers less alarming.

• Prosecutor's extension. The prosecutor's power to prolong police detention for a limited time. Its only purpose is to bring you before the court within that time.
• Remand in custody. The court's order that you stay detained while the case goes on, on grounds it accepts.
• House arrest. A lesser measure by which you stay at home under conditions. It is imposed by the court and, like custody, cannot be imposed in your absence.
• Prosecutor's proposal. The request that asks the court to impose a measure. It sets out the grounds and is the target of any challenge.
• In your absence. The point that no measure restricting liberty can be imposed unless you are brought to court.
• European Arrest Warrant. A request between European countries to surrender a person for prosecution or a sentence. It follows a different track from an ordinary Bulgarian arrest and includes a surrender hearing.
• Consular notification. The right, on request, for foreign nationals to have their country told of the arrest. It brings contact, not a defence.

If a word on your papers is not here, photograph it and ask. A guess from a similar word in another language can mislead.