Verbiza

People's Communal Republic of Verbiza Narodna komunalna republika verbiza (Verbizan)
Flag Emblem
Motto: Otselyavaneto e nedostatŭchno Survival is insufficient
Anthem: Dŭrzhaven khimn na republikata State Hymn of the Republic
Capital and largest city	Bunevgrad
Official languages	Verbizan
Demonym(s)	Verbizan
Government	Single-party socialist state under a federal system
• President	Dimitar Tanev
• First Overseer	Kamena Bunev
Legislature	National Council
Established
• Verbizan Revolution	5 April 1926
Population
• 2015 estimate	1.2 million
• 2010 census	1.105 million
Currency	Rubla (VRA)
Date format	01 Jan 1900
Driving side	right

Verbiza, officially the People's Communal Republic of Verbiza (Verbizan: Narodna komunalna republika na verbiza) is a sovereign, landlocked nation in !REGION.

The People's Communal Republic of Verbiza was born out of protests by left-wing trade unions in the hills of central Verbiza during the early 20th century, then a province of !NATION. Dissatisfied with poor working conditions and marginalization of the Verbizan language and culture, community organizer Petar Krasimirov Bunev began organizing general strikes in an effort to improve working conditions and earn recognition of Verbizan rights. Escalation of tensions from both sides eventually led to violence between the protesters and the government, which led to the Verbizan Revolution (1922 - 1926). The Verbizan Revolution ended with the formal establishment and recognition of Verbiza as an independent state. Verbiza adopted a socialist, multi-party, communal federation as a system of government.

Landlocked, mostly mountainous, and lacking sophisticated infrastructure, Verbiza remained a poor backwater for the entirety of the 20th century. This was also due in part to the inefficiencies of an economy solely based on manual mining from communal villages. Since 2006, however, Kamena Todorova Bunev, granddaughter of the founder Petar Krasimirov Bunev, rose to power and began implementing economic reforms to open the country to more modern economic methods, while retaining the prima facie aspects of the communal system her grandfather designed.

Today, Verbiza is slowly developing its national infrastructure, education system, and economy. Despite improvements, the country is regularly criticized by international monitors for human rights abuses, unfair election policies, and general lack of political and individual freedom.

Government and politics

Verbiza is a one-party Communist state. The ruling Communist Party of Verbiza wields total and exclusive political power.

Administrative divisions

Verbiza is divided first by province (provintsiya), second by commune (komuna), and third by "working unit" (rabotno zveno). The administrative divisions of Verbiza are organized as such to more efficiently delegate management of the command economy.

In Verbiza, there are no officially recognized "cities" or "towns". Instead, there are "communes", which are administratively and conceptually the same as cities or towns in other countries. Communes are comprised of working units, which are organizations of citizens assigned to a certain economic task.

Every Verbizan is assigned a working unit upon completion of secondary education and if they have not been admitted into higher education.

Executive

Kamena Bunev, First Overseer of Verbiza and Chairperson of the Communist Party of Verbiza since 2006

The executive branch of Verbiza is headed by the President of the People's Communal Republic (Prezident na narodnata komunalna republika), currently Dimitar Tanev.

The president has very few powers. The president can sign legislation, veto legislation, and act as the national representative in foreign affair matters. The president is directly appointed by the Communist Party of Verbiza every 5 years at the Party Congress.

The president is typically, but not always, the same person as the General Secretary of the Communist Party.

The First Overseer (Pŭrvi nadzornik) is the head of government. The First Overseer is typically, but not always, also the person who is Chairman of the Communist Party. The First Overseer is considered to be the most powerful person in Verbiza. The current First Overseer (since 2006) is Kamena Bunev,

Judiciary

Verbizan law is based on preserving the social good rather than protecting the rights of individuals.

The Verbizan People's Court (Verbizanski naroden sŭd) hears all criminal, civil, and constitutional cases. It is the nation's highest court. Most citizens, however, do not directly experience the Verbizan People's Court. Instead, the court appoints marshals to wander the countryside, hear grievances, and levy justice.

While the law does place protections on individuals from petty and serious crimes, crimes against the state generally carry harsher penalties.

For example, in the case of theft against a citizen, the penalty is typically 5 years of hard labor. In the case of theft against a government store house, the penalty is typically 10 - 15 years of hard labor, depending on the severity of the theft.

The legal standard of Nullum crimen sine lege (no crime without law), that an individual cannot face prosecution except when there is a determined law before the criminal act took place, does not exist in Verbiza. Instead, there is a legal principle of analogy where the state can demonstrate the harm of an act against the social good though the act itself may not be defined in the criminal code.

Legal authority is derived from the dictatorship of the proletariat, so all legal principle is based on the ideology of protecting the common good over the good of the individual.

The most common punishment for any crime is time in a labor camp. Sentences in a labor camp typically range from 6 months to twenty years.

The death sentence is outlawed in Verbiza except for acts of treason during times of war. International human rights monitors claim, however, that individuals routinely disappear in Verbiza, likely at the hands of government security forces.

Legislature

The National Council in Bunevgrad

The national legislature is called the National Council (Natsionalen sŭvet). It is comprised of 300 representatives.

Administrative units (from local to national) are working units, communes, provinces, and the nation. The democratically elected head of a working unit is called an Overseer (Nadziratel). All of the overseers of a commune's working units meet regularly in a Commune Council (Obshtinski sŭvet) to decide local matters.

Each Commune Council in a province can elect a proportional number of representatives to serve in the Province Council (Provintsialen sŭvet). Each Province Council can likewise elect a proportional number of representatives to serve in the National Council (Natsionalen sŭvet).

The National Council elects the First Overseer (Pŭrvi nadzornik), who forms the cabinet. The First Overseer is typically, but not always, also the person who is Chairman of the Communist Party. The First Overseer is considered to be the most powerful person in Verbiza. The current First Overseer (since 2006) is Kamena Bunev,

Military

The Army of the Mountains (Armiyata na planinite) is the official name for the armed forces of Verbiza. They're comprised of the Ground Force (Nazemna sila), Air Force (Vŭzdushni sili), and Gendarmerie (Zhandarmeriya). Due to Verbiza being landlocked, there is no navy, but there is a small unit of vessels used for patrols of rivers and lakes.

There are about 5 thousand active duty service members enlisted in the Army of the Mountains and 15 thousand reservists. Additionally, most civilians receive basic firearms experience through practical experience or through basic education courses during secondary education.

Verbizan military defense strategy focuses almost entirely on self-defense. Due to the limited resources of the Verbizan military and likely superiority of an enemy force during an invasion, Verbizan defense doctrine relies heavily on asymmetrical, guerrilla, and partisan tactics. Much of the existing national infrastructure is designed to be destroyed to create difficulties for invading and occupying military forces.

Since most of the country is mountainous, the military trains extensively in mountain warfare under the assumption that the mountains would act as the national redoubt.