site.btaKey Task Is to End Arbitrary Practices at Top of Judiciary, Says CC-DB’s Top-of-the-List Candidate for Sofia Region 26th Constituency

The main task is to prevent further arbitrariness at the highest levels of the judicial system, said law expert and former justice minister Atanas Slavov of Yes, Bulgaria in an interview with bTV, as quoted by the party’s press office. Slavov is the top-of-the-list candidate of Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria for Sofia Region 26th multi-member constituency.

Slavov said the next National Assembly must prioritize the election of a new Supreme Judicial Council and adopt a series of legislative changes aimed at reclaiming what he described as a “captured state”. He also criticized GERB and former justice minister Georgi Georgiev for, in his view, unlawfully keeping acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov at the head of the prosecuting magistracy.

He argued that the upper levels of the judiciary, particularly the prosecuting magistracy, have been “captured”, which is why, he said, the State must be “taken back” and returned to citizens. According to Slavov, this was also the reason hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets at the end of 2025.

He added that restoring the rule of law must go through legislative reforms. An earlier attempt through constitutional reform was overturned by the Constitutional Court under what he described as political pressure, but the process should continue at the legislative level. He said that draft amendments to the Judicial System Act, the Criminal Procedure Code, and the Penal Code had been prepared and partially submitted to the outgoing parliament but were not reviewed.

Slavov also criticized recent amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code adopted by the current 51st National Assembly, which allow the Prosecutor General to extend the duration of investigations during the pre-trial phase.