Bulgaria’s caretaker Justice Minister thwarted in bid to oust Sarafov as acting Prosecutor-General
A meeting of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) on February 26 ended after more than six hours with no decision on caretaker Justice Minister Andrei Yankulov’s proposal to elect a new acting Prosecutor-General, a move which would thus oust Borislav Sarafov.
The meeting was convened by Yankulov, who is part of an interim administration that took office on February 19 and that has pledged that the conduct of Bulgaria’s April 19 early parliamentary elections will be free and fair.
The SJC referred the proposal for the election of a new acting Prosecutor-General to its Prosecutors College.
Yankulov, speaking at the start of the meeting, said: “Currently, Bulgaria is facing a rather severe crisis of the rule of law, which is caused by the fact that the de facto acting Prosecutor-General is in his post in violation of the law”.
He said that this is also the opinion of numerous judicial panels of the Supreme Court of Cassation and the courts of appeal.
A situation in which judges do not recognise the Prosecutor-General is intolerable for a state governed by the rule of law, Yankulov said.
“My belief is that the acting Prosecutor-General is much closer in figure to the titular one than to any other administrative head, precisely because of the amount of power and authority he exercises,” he said.
Yankulov said that the Prosecutor’s Office as an institution is extremely dependent on the figure of the Prosecutor-General and when there is a problem with him, this affects not only the Prosecutor’s Office, but the entire justice system.
He said that the current SJC could not elect a new Prosecutor-General (as opposed to an acting one) because the SJC’s term in office had expired.
Several members of the SJC that it was not the body to elect the acting Prosecutor-General and this should be done by the Prosecutors College, as the Judicial College of the SJC elected acting heads of the supreme courts.
Atanaska Disheva, of the Judicial College, disagreed with this view, saying that the decision could be taken by the SJC plenum.
Before and during the meeting, there were protests organised by the Boets civic organisation and backed by the Justice for All initiative, demanding the ouster of Sarafov. This was the latest in a long series of protests against Sarafov, with protesters saying that his office is a cudgel used by specific political interests.
Sarafov was elected acting Prosecutor-General in June 2023. Subsequently, Parliament approved legislative amendments limiting acting heads to a term of six months, but those who are opposed to ousting Sarafov argue that these amendments do not have a retroactive effect that would remove him from office.
(Photo: Clive Leviev-Sawyer)
