site.btaCC-DB and MECh: No Acting Prosecutor General after Supreme Court of Cassation Decision

Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) and Morality, Unity, Honour (MECh) said during a Thursday debate on amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code that there is no acting Prosecutor General following a Supreme Court of Cassation decision and urged Justice Minister Georgi Georgiev to act.

Earlier on Thursday, the Supreme Court of Cassation announced it had refused to open proceedings on requests submitted by acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov to reopen criminal cases, arguing that Sarafov could not serve as acting Prosecutor General. The Prosecution Service told BTA that the Supreme Court of Cassation decision has no effect on Sarafov’s position, as his appointment was decided by the Prosecutors Chamber of the Supreme Judicial Council and can only be set aside by the Supreme Administrative Court.

A few days earlier, the Prosecutors Chamber of the Supreme Judicial Council upheld its decision to appoint Borislav Sarafov as acting Prosecutor General and did not initiate an administrative procedure to appoint a new acting Prosecutor General.

During the debate, CC-DB's MP and Democrats for Strong Bulgaria Chair Atanas Atanassov said there is currently no Prosecutor General, and, according to media reports from today, not even an acting Prosecutor General. He described this as the responsibility of Justice Minister Georgi Georgiev, who chairs the Supreme Judicial Council, and said Georgiev should initiate the process to renew the Council’s membership, including the election of a new parliamentary quota, following a delay of more than two years.

MECh MP Hristo Rastashki addressed Justice Minister Georgiev and the ruling coalition, accusing them of leaving the judicial system in paralysis for years. Rastashki said that Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) Chair and MRF – New Beginning Leader Delyan Peevski has now lost his Prosecutor General, along with GERB leader Boyko Borissov, and urged Georgiev, as chair of the Supreme Judicial Council, to act.