site.btaConstitutional Court Opens Case about Acting Prosecutor General's Term

The Constitutional Court has instituted a case on an application by the Varna Court of Appeal concerning the term in office of the acting Prosecutor General, the press office of the Constitutional Court said on Tuesday. The decision to start proceedings was made after the Varna court rectified irregularities in its application within a 14-day deadline set by the Constitutional Court. Judge Yanaki Stoilov has been appointed as the rapporteur for the case.

A judgment by the Constitutional Court will potentially end a stalemate over whether Borislav Sarafov is the legitimate acting Prosecutor General – or not, because he has overstayed a prescribed six-month term in office.

The irregularities which the Constitutional Court saw in the original application of the Varna Court of Appeal and which were eventually remedied concerned a failure to provide sufficient reasoning and clearly define what constitutional rules were violated in Sarafov's case.

The application from the Varna court is about whether a provision in the Judicial System Act (Article 173, (15)) on the early termination of the Prosecutor General’s mandate, the appointment of an acting Prosecutor General, and the period during which the same person may perform these functions is compatible with the Constitution. The Varna court also asks the Constitutional Court how to interpret the provision, whether it should apply only going forward or also to people who were already appointed as acting Prosecutor General before the law came into force.

Borislav Sarafov was appointed acting Prosecutor General in June 2023. In January 2025, Parliament amended the Judicial System Act to introduce a new rule (Article 173(15)), stating that an acting Prosecutor General (and acting heads of the highest courts) can serve no more than six months. According to legal experts and a ruling by the Supreme Court of Cassation, the six-month limit meant Sarafov’s mandate automatically ended on July 21, 2025, because the new rule applied to his ongoing interim appointment. As a result, the Supreme Court of Cassation ruled that he no longer has authority to perform key functions - such as requesting the reopening of criminal cases - after that date.

Article 173(15) of the Judicial System Act states: “In the event of early termination or expiry of the mandate of the Prosecutor General, the President of the Supreme Court of Cassation, or the President of the Supreme Administrative Court, an acting official shall be appointed to perform the respective functions, subject to the following condition: the same person may not perform the respective functions for a period exceeding six months, regardless of whether there have been interruptions in the performance of the functions.”

In its application to the Constitutional Court, the Varna court challenges Sarafov's authority to reopen criminal cases.