The Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms has officially ruled that the Ministry of Internal Affairs violated a criminal intelligence police officer’s right to good administration and legal certainty. This decision comes after the Ministry spent years failing to resolve the officer’s request for a calculation of his accelerated pension credits, commonly known as benefited service years. Despite the officer submitting his initial request in May 2024 and sending subsequent urgent reminders, the Ministry never issued a formal administrative decision on his status.
The situation grew more alarming during a freedom of information request, which revealed that the Ministry does not actually possess any official decree that would justify stripping the officer of his accelerated service rights. When pressed by the Ombudsman, the Ministry admitted that it is completely unable to identify who made the changes to the official database, when they were made, or what the legal basis was. Furthermore, a review of official pension forms showed that for certain years, accelerated service contributions were neither recorded nor paid at all.
The Ombudsman strongly condemned these structural failures, emphasising that such administrative chaos is entirely incompatible with the rule of law. The ruling pointed out that in a democratic society, an individual’s professional status cannot be altered without a clear paper trail showing who made the decision and why. Additionally, the Ombudsman noted that state institutions cannot pass the burden of their own poor record-keeping onto citizens, especially since the Ministry’s silence effectively blocked the officer from accessing the court system to defend his rights. While discrimination could not be definitively proven, the Ministry also failed to explain why this officer was singled out and treated differently than colleagues in identical roles.
Consequently, the Ombudsman issued a strict set of recommendations to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to rectify the situation. The Ministry is required to immediately audit its official databases, determine why specific periods of accelerated service were omitted, and correct all financial and administrative discrepancies. Furthermore, they must issue a formal administrative decision regarding the officer’s pension credits without delay, providing clear legal justification. The Ministry has been given a strict thirty-day deadline from the receipt of the opinion to report back on the concrete measures taken to implement these changes.
