Judicial Reform Demands Raised at March in Downtown Sofia

UPDATED Judicial Reform Demands Raised at March in Downtown Sofia

BTA Photo

Sofia,

23.05.2023 19:48 | UPDATED 23.05.2023 21:34

(BTA)

The Justice for All initiative organized a march with demands for judicial reform in Sofia Tuesday evening. The march started from National Assembly Square and partly blocked traffic.

According to the organizers, there is no need for a prosecutor general. They want a constitutional reform that would solve the problem with the Prosecutor General and with the political influences and majorities in the Supreme Judicial Council.

The organizers explained that the date for the march was chosen because of the 31st anniversary of the murder of Italian anti-mafia magistrate Giovanni Falcone by Cosa Nostra. Justice for All plan to send a letter to Falcone's sister, who chairs the Fondazione Falcone foundation, to inform her that Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev was presented with the Giovanni Falcone Award three times, which they consider a disgrace.

The participants in Tuesday's march also demanded a pardon for Desislava Ivancheva, former mayor of Sofia's Mladost borough, and her deputy Bilyana Petrova, claiming the two had been convicted by order of Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev.

Ivancheva, her deputy Bilyana Petrova and predecessor Petko Dyulgerov were all convicted for demanding a bribe from building contractor Alexander Vaklin. They were arrested in central Sofia on April 17, 2018, in a high-profile law-enforcement operation which many saw as humiliating. Ivancheva and Petrova, who are serving six- and five-year sentences respectively, have insisted throughout that they are innocent and that they had been framed.

Continue the Change co-leader Kiril Petkov joined the march.

/DS/