ABSTRACT
The pilot judgment procedure originates in two connected problems: systemic problems of human rights violations within the States Parties to the European Convention and ensuing large numbers of applications concerning these issues coming to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Polyana Valcheva, a member of the Bar in Bulgaria, was hit by the metaphorical boomerang twice. In 2004 she tipped a local prosecutor about possible documentary fraud by her former de facto spouse. In the course of the enquiry the investigating authorities found indications that Ms Valcheva herself had forged a document in order for her former partner to obtain a retirement pension. The reason is telling. In 2011 the Court had issued a pilot judgment, Dimitrov and Hamanov, on the systemic problem of overly long criminal proceedings in Bulgaria. The category is that of excessive length of national judicial proceedings and the lack of domestic remedies for that problem.
