site.btaJustice Minister to Appeal Supreme Judicial Council Prosecutors Chamber Refusal to Appoint New Acting Prosecutor General

Caretaker Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Andrey Yankulov, ahead of a meeting of the Judges Chamber of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) on Tuesday, told the media that "today we must finalize and file an appeal before the Supreme Administrative Court against the refusal of the Prosecutors Chamber of the Supreme Judicial Council to consider the proposal for appointing a new acting Prosecutor General."

On March 11, the Prosecutors Chamber unanimously decided to leave without consideration the caretaker Justice Minister’s proposal to appoint an acting Prosecutor General. The decision may be appealed before the Supreme Administrative Court within 14 days, i.e. by March 25.

Yankulov explained that the main issue lies in the Chamber’s ruling, which effectively introduces "an eternal temporary mandate" for Sarafov, the termination of which is made dependent on the occurrence of a future uncertain event, either the appointment of a permanent officeholder or his own decision to step down from performing these functions. According to Yankulov, this contradicts all fundamental principles of the rule of law and good governance.

Regarding the submitted documents by the BOEC Association and the working group established within the Justice Ministry to review, systematize, and conduct a legal analysis, Yankulov said that further steps will be taken on the basis of the working group’s report, which is forthcoming. He added that, based on the documents, initiating disciplinary proceedings would be difficult due to the expiration of the statutory limitation period.

According to the Justice Ministry, the BOEC report contains allegations of "criminal offenses of a general nature - corruption, abuse of power, crimes against justice", among others, committed by high-ranking officials, as well as "data on disciplinary violations and actions undermining the authority of the judiciary carried out by magistrates."

Yankulov forwarded the BOEC report, together with the scanned documents, to the Interior Ministry for inspection and for taking appropriate legal measures if violations are found. He is also sending the papers to the Chair of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Cassation to assess whether further action should be taken under the mechanism for the independent investigation of the Prosecutor General.