site.btaConstitutional Court Dismisses Terminated Prosecutor General's Election Procedure Case

On December 11, 2025, the Constitutional Court issued a ruling terminating the proceedings in a constitutional case instituted on a petition by the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) to find unconstitutional restrictive provisions of an Act to Amend and Supplement the Judicial System Act, the Court said in a press release on Thursday.

The constitutional jurisdiction acted after receiving a December 1, 2025 ruling of a three-judge panel of the SAC which terminated an administrative case pending before it by reason of a withdrawal of an appeal on the basis of which it was instituted.

The Constitutional Court determined that now that the proceedings before the referring court have been terminated, the constitutional requirement that there should be a specific case to which the challenged law is applicable is no longer met.

Attending the session were 11 Constitutional Court judges. The ruling was adopted by 10 votes in favour and a dissenting opinion by Judge Borislav Belazelkov.

After Bulgaria's acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov withdrew, on November 28, his appeal before the SAC in connection with the termination of a procedure for the election of a prosecutor general by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) Plenum, the SAC set aside the appeal, which was lodged in early February 2025, and terminated the case.

The procedure for the election of a prosecutor general was terminated on January 23, 2025, two days after Parliament enacted legislative amendments barring JSC members whose term in office has expired from nominating and voting in the election of a prosecutor general. Sarafov was the only nominee for the office, nominated by three members of the JSC Prosecutors Chamber on October 10, 2024.

The SAC then stayed the proceedings in the case and, acting on Sarafov's motion, on April 7 took the matter to the Constitutional Court, arguing that these restrictive provisions in the Transitional and Final Provisions of the Act to Amend and Supplement the Judicial System Act are unconstitutional because they prevent the SJC from fully exercising its powers and making decisions.