In practice, defamation, perjury, and false accusation are often confused. The main reason is that in all three cases, one person claims that another person has committed a criminal offense.
The essential characteristics that distinguish defamation, perjury, and false accusation as crimes relate to the circumstances under which a person alleges that another has committed a crime and to whom they make this allegation.
When is there a false accusation of a crime and what are the means of defense?
According to the Bulgarian Penal Code, false accusation of a crime occurs when a person confirms to a competent authority that another person has committed a crime, knowing that this is not the case.
False accusation of a crime will also be present in cases where false evidence is presented to a competent authority that a certain person has committed a crime.
IMPORTANT! “Competent” is the authority that has the power to initiate criminal proceedings for the alleged crime.
IMPORTANT! When a person questioned as a witness before such an authority claims that another person has committed a crime, knowing that this is not the case, perjury has been committed.
False accusation of a crime is prosecuted on the initiative of the prosecution, as it is a criminal offense of a general nature. However, the person alleged to have committed the crime may file a report on the basis of which criminal proceedings may be instituted.
The penalties for false accusation of a crime range from one to six years’ imprisonment and public censure. In other words, this is a serious crime against justice.
Therefore, when imposing a conviction, it is not possible to exempt the offender from criminal liability by imposing an administrative penalty, nor to replace imprisonment with probation.
In the event of a conviction, if the court imposes a sentence of up to three years’ imprisonment, the execution of the sentence may be suspended for a period of three to five years by imposing a so-called suspended sentence. This is only permissible in cases where the convicted person has a clean criminal record and the personal data collected in the case file suggests that it is not necessary for him to serve the sentence in order to be rehabilitated.
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Silvia Petkova Sole Proprietorship is a law firm specializing in criminal law.
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