25/07/2025 – 19/09/2025

  • On 6 September 2025, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) published its report on its ad hoc visit to Bulgaria, carried out from 16 to 23 September 2024, together with the response of the Bulgarian authorities. The Committee highlighted the unacceptability of physical and verbal abuse of detained foreign nationals and criticized the ‘extremely poor’ state of the detention facilities, including overcrowding and bed-bug infestations. Access to healthcare for detained foreign nationals was also deemed unsatisfactory by the CPT. Further, the Committee urged Bulgarian nationalities to cease the forcible ‘pushback’ of foreign nationals at the Bulgarian border without providing access to protection screening mechanisms.