site.btaUPDATED Prosecutor General Asks Constitutional Court to Interpret Basic Law on Term, Functions of Supreme Judicial Council

Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev has asked the Constitutional Court to interpret a text of the country's basic law, the prosecutor's office said.

The request raises three main issues related to the most representative body of the judiciary - the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).

Two of the questions are: whether the functions of the council are terminated upon the expiry of its term and whether it is permissible to form a new one with the members elected in 2022 from the professional quota of judges and prosecutors together with the members by right - the presidents of the Supreme Court of Cassation (SCC) and the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) and the Prosecutor General.

The third question is: is it constitutionally permissible for an SJC with an expired term in office to take decisions regarding the Presidents of the SCC, the SAC, the Prosecutor General and other administrative heads in the judiciary.

According to the Prosecution Service, the request for a binding interpretation is critical to the formation and functioning of the SJC. It refers to a real problem - the highest personnel body of the judiciary is functioning past its term in office, although new members haven elected from the professional quota.

The constitutionally established term of office of the members of the SJC is 5 years. The current Supreme Judicial Council was constituted on October 3 of 2017 and its term expired on October 3 of 2022, the prosecutor's office reminds.

Last summer, eleven new members of the SJC were elected at general assemblies of judges, prosecutors and investigators. So far, they have not taken office as the National Assembly has not exercised its powers to elect the remaining eleven new members. Thus, the current composition of the SJC continues to function beyond the term in office defined in the Constitution. This raises the question of the legitimacy of its decisions, and doubts about their validity threaten legal certainty, the request to the Constitutional Court points out.

The request of the Prosecutor General reviews the different interpretations of possible solutions to the problem of the expired term of the current SJC and its legitimacy to take personnel decisions.

The Prosecutor General draws attention to the fact that the non-judicial extension of the term of office of the Inspectorate of the SJC has been defined by the Constitutional Court as "a protective mechanism applicable in exceptional situations in which the members of the composition of a certain collective constitutionally-established body, minimally necessary for it to function, have not been elected". In the present case, however, the members were elected from the professional quota of the SJC.

The legality of the actions of the Supreme Judicial Council, and thus of the judiciary, is called into question, the request for interpretation addressed to the Constitutional Court states.

Last week, the SJC opened a procedure for the early dismissal of the Prosecutor General.

Fourteen members of the SJC voted in favour, four were against, while Prosecutor General Geshev did not participate in the vote.