In a recent report on the public image of the judiciary in Bulgaria, prepared at the request of the union of Bulgarian judges, the idea was launched that a television series about the work of the Bulgarian justice system could help improve public knowledge and create a more favourable image of the judiciary.

Writing a script for a series like that would a real challenge. How does one keep such a script about the Bulgarian judiciary relatively close to reality to be relevant, without sounding completely ridiculous and unrealistic? If we look at the news from the past couple of weeks this seems a mission impossible.

Recent and past mafia or business related murders by themselves are not spectacular at all. Murders at any time of the day or night, in just about any place convenient to only the killer are fairly common in most of Europa and North America.

What makes the Bulgarian situation different is the aftermath of these murders. The endless scenes of nothing happening. There are public statements about ongoing investigations, but there are no arrests, no convictions, only formal statements that seem to have no purpose other than public relations for the functionary making the statement. If something does get to court, hearings are postponed because defendants have something else to do that day.

Policemen, magistrates and deputy chiefs of various anti-organised crime unites and directorates are buddy-buddy with those under investigation. Ministers meet with suspected criminals under ongoing investigation. Tapes with recording or transcripts of tapped phone calls are leaked to the press. Threats that certain damaging information will be made public and evidence will be presented at an appropriate time and to an appropriate party, only to be followed by a 180 degree turn and claims that there never was any evidence and all journalists misquoted and misinterpreted what had been said.

The list is endless.

Political and administrative figures eliminate each other through political, administrative and public backstabbing in which the means justify the purpose. The mafia on the other hand seems to prefer a single, clean, close-range shot in the head to eliminate its opponents.

Any one of these ingredients would make such a series seemingly unrealistic and impossible to believe. Yet this is reality, not CSI, Ally McBeal or any of the other popular series. To say that reality is stranger than fiction would be an understatement.