Prosecutor General аsks Constitutional Court to declare provisions of Criminal Procedure Code and Judicial System Act as unconstitutional

The Prosecutor General has submitted to the Constitutional Court a request to declare provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) and the Judicial System Act (JSA) as unconstitutional. The provisions are related to the refusal to initiate pre-trial proceedings, the mechanism for independent investigation of the Prosecutor General and the election of members of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), the Prosecutor's Office said on June 5.

The introduction of judicial review for most of the prosecutor's refusals to initiate pre-trial proceedings undermines the constitutionally mandated role of the court to be an independent arbiter and to ensure equality of parties and competitiveness in the judicial process.

It would also result in an unacceptable infringement of the prosecutor's power to decide sovereignly and independently whether to initiate or refuse to initiate an investigation. The court will encroach on the prosecutor's functions and will affect his ability to make his decision according to his internal conviction, and in a state governed by the rule of law, it is unacceptable for a state body to seize the powers of another, Geshev wrote in his reasoning.