Supreme Judicial Council opens a procedure for election of a new Prosecutor General

With 12 votes in favour, the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) on June 22 started ta procedure for the election of a new Prosecutor General. The nomination of candidates starts on 6 July and ends on 27 July.

Nominations can be made in four consecutive meetings. At least 3 members of the Prosecutors College of the SJC, as well as the Minister of Justice, have the right to do so. The election will take place on 27 October.

In the debate today, there were different opinions on whether the procedure should start or not.

Galina Zaharova, President of the Supreme Court of Cassation: I will vote against the proposed draft decision. Either way, these are the actions of a body with an expired term in office. Objectively, the situation is such that when bodies with an expired term act for a particularly long period of time, they put themselves at risk of undermining their own independence.

Georgi Cholakov, President of the Supreme Administrative Court: We should respect the law. Accordingly, the law has ordered that within 7 days we should open this procedure. We cannot do anything else but open the procedure for the election of a new Prosecutor General.

Justice Minister, Atanas Slavov, also urged the SJC not to open the procedure, pointing out that changes are to be made to the Constitution which will concern both the functions and the powers of the Prosecutor General.

"I would urge the SJC, as I did, to institutional restraint, I even used the expression 'institutional asceticism'. In a period of very low confidence in it as a body, beyond its term in office, in view of the forthcoming legal changes in the function, role, status of the Prosecutor General, I do not think it is justified to open a procedure at this stage," he said.

Justice Minister: I don't see a reason to start a procedure for election of a new Prosecutor General, considering commitment to constitutional reform

Earlier, the Supreme Judicial Council discussed whether the election of Borislav Sarafov as acting Prosecutor General was right or wrong - but no decision was reached.