Stefanova appointed as Bulgaria’s acting Prosecutor-General after Sarafov steps down

The Supreme Judicial Council’s Prosecutorial College appointed Deputy Prosecutor-General Vanya Stefanova as acting Prosecutor-General on April 22 after Borislav Stefanov stepped down from the post, with immediate effect, earlier in the day.

Stefanova was appointed Deputy Prosecutor-General on the recommendation of Sarafov in 2025.

Sarafov submitted his resignation to the Prosecutor’s College after months of campaigning and protests against him on the grounds that he was acting as Prosecutor-General in violation of the law.

His step follows ex-president Roumen Radev’s party’s decisive victory in Bulgaria’s April 19 early parliamentary elections, with one of Radev’s campaign promises having been to reform the judiciary, including through the ouster of Sarafov.

Bulgarian National Radio said that Stefanova was chosen on the principle that she has the longer administrative experience compared with the other Deputy Prosecutor-General, Magdalena Lazarova.

According to her official CV on the website of the Prosecutor’s Office, Stefanova graduated in 1996 from Sofia University St Kliment Ohridski with a master’s degree in law.

From 1997 to 2001, she was an assistant investigator, later investigator, in the Sofia District Investigation Service.

From 2001 to 2003, she was a prosecutor as the District Prosecutor’s Office in Slivnitsa, going on to be deputy administrative head of that office until 2010, when she was appointed as a prosecutor in the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office.

From 2013 to 2015, she was deputy head of the State Agency for National Security, before returning as a prosecutor in the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office from 2015 to 2019.

In 2019 and 2020, Stefanova was a prosecutor as the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor’s Office, and in 2025 was elected Deputy Prosecutor-General.

(Photo: Prosecutor’s Office)