Prof. St. Razumov opens the conference in Saratov

In its five-year-long existence, the Bulgarian-Russian Juridical Club (established in 2001) reached a scope of its activity compatible with the scales of Russia’s open spaces. This became possible mostly because in the space of three months this year, the partner jurists from Russia hosted for a second time yet another high-level scientific conference. After the conference on the problems of intellectual property held in Moscow March 29 – April 1, 2006, the ancient city of Saratov hosted from June 18 to 21 the meeting of leading Russian and Bulgarian jurists who gathered to discuss the “Implementation of the tasks and principles of the Penal Code of the Russian Federation. Bulgarian criminal court practice”. The venue – Saratov Province centre – was not chosen by chance, as well as the occasion for holding the conference: the 10th anniversary since the adoption of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation.

With the arrival of the representative Bulgarian delegation in Moscow, in the very first moments after its welcoming, it transpired that both the territory and Russian souls are wide open to friends and extremely generous, when it comes to friends from Bulgaria. The President of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, Prof. V. Lebedev welcomed his counterpart from Bulgaria, Ivan Grigorov, Chair of the Supreme Court of Cassation of the Republic of Bulgaria at an official dinner. The two presidents underscored the stepped up development of contacts between the institutions in the period after the visit paid by Bulgaria’s President G. Parvanov to Moscow in 2004, when an agreement on strengthening the cooperation between the Supreme Courts of the two countries was signed.

President of the Bulgarian-Russian Juridical Club, Mr. Dimiter Tomov delivers a welcoming address on behalf of the Club

It is hard to describe the atmosphere created by the hosts in the beautiful Province centre of Saratov, sparing emotions and adjectives. On the one hand, the conference was a significant scientific forum with the reports discussed at it testifying to the fact. Let’s list some of them: “The penal proceedings under the Penal Code of the RF” (Prof. Stanislav Razumov, Chair, Presidium of the Supreme Court of Justice RF); “Court supervision as stipulated in the Criminal Procedure Code of the RF and putting it to practice” (V. Davydov, Supreme Court of Justice RF); “Implementation of the standard of justice in criminal law” (E. Pobryzgaeva – Supreme Court Justice RF); “Issues of hearing criminal cases in the area of intellectual property” (M. Karelina –head of laboratory, Russian Academy of Justice); “Rule of Law and its implementation in legal practice” (A. Karakhanov, Criminal Law Department, Russian Academy of Justice); “Topical issues of hearing criminal cases” (A. Paramonov, judge, District Court); “Meeting the criteria of humanity and justice” (A. Kurganov, judge, District Court); “Economic crimes: law, practice, science” (Prof. N. Lopashenko – Director, Centre for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption Problems (SSAL); “Implementation of the presumption of innocence under the Penal Code of the RF” (Prof. Dr. Byashir Razgildiev, Director of the Povolzhskiy Regional Law Institute (SSAL); “Amendments to the legislation and problems with imposing regulations in criminal law” (E. Stoianova – judge, Bulgaria’s Supreme Court of Cassation); “Amendments to and problems of the regulations under the criminal procedure legislation” (R. Keranova – judge, Bulgaria’s Supreme Court of Cassation); “Exoneration from criminal liability and imposing administrative penalties” (Prof. Dr. Doncho Hrusanov, St. Clement of Ohrid University of Sofia).

The hosts organized a rich cultural programme in the spirit of the brightest and most representative Russian traditions and ways. The meetings with the Governor of the Saratov Province Pavel Ipatov, with tireless Chair of the Saratov Province Court, Alexander Galkin, with the tens of jurists, who had come from across Russia, are never to be forgotten.

It would not be far-fetched to say that in the five years of the Bulgarian-Russian Club’s existence, the results of the Club’s activities go far beyond the narrow professional contacts between the jurists from Russia and Bulgaria, raising the level of the relations between the states to a level of closely connected friendly countries both historically and in terms of filling in the present relations between the two peoples with real-term content in the cultural, scientific and social areas.