P.M. v. BULGARIA JUDGMENT 1 In the case of P.M. v. Bulgaria, The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting as a Chamber composed of: Lech Garlicki, President, David Thór Björgvinsson, Päivi Hirvelä, Ledi Bianku, Zdravka Kalaydjieva, Nebojša Vučinić, Vincent A. De Gaetano, judges, and Lawrence Early, Section Registrar, Having deliberated in private on 4 January 2012, Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date: PROCEDURE 1. The case originated in an application (no. 49669/07) against the Republic of Bulgaria lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a Bulgarian national, Ms P.M. (“the applicant”), on 25 October 2007. 2. The applicant was represented by Mr V. Vasilev, a lawyer practising in Sofia. The Bulgarian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms M. Kotseva, of the Ministry of Justice. 3. The applicant alleged, in particular, that the investigation into sexual offences of which she had been a victim had been ineffective, and that she had not had an effective domestic remedy in this respect. 4. On 29 September 2010 the President of the Fifth Section of the Court decided to give notice of the application to the Government and to grant the applicant anonymity (Rule 47 § 3 of the Rules of Court). It was also decided to rule on the admissibility and merits of the application at the same time (Article 29 § 1). The case was subsequently transferred to the Fourth Section, following the re-composition of the Court’s sections on 1 February 2011. THE FACTS I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE 5. The applicant was born in 1977 and lives in Stara Zagora.