site.btaPresident Vetoes Restoration of Supreme Judicial Council Plenum, Prosecutor General's Powers

President Rumen Radev has vetoed revisions to the Code of Criminal Procedure, which reinstate temporarily the Plenum of the Supreme Judicial Council and the powers of the Prosecutor General, his press office said on Monday. "The widely proclaimed justice reform via the recent amendments to the Constitution was practically cancelled for an indefinite period of time with the transitional and final provisions of the amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure adopted on February 1," the President argued. According to him, this is a deliberate disregard of the supremacy of the Constitution and its immediate effect.

In his reasoning, Radev recalls that with the latest constitutional amendments the Supreme Judicial Council was divided into a judicial and a prosecutorial councils and the powers of the Prosecutor General and of the prosecution were curbed.

As they voted conclusively amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure on February 1, the MPs extend the operations of the current Supreme Judicial Council and its plenum, until a new Supreme Judicial Council and Supreme Prosecutorial Council get elected as provided for by the revised Constitution.

Also, Radev objects to the limited right of defendants to get familiar with evidence when they are left in remand by the court.