Nikolai Naydenov Naydenov is the Minister of Justice in the cabinet of Rumen Radev.
He is 51 years old and is an expert with over 20 years of strategic experience in the management of state institutions, social reforms and international law. He was the Secretary General of the Commission for Combating Corruption (CCAC), Secretary General of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and Head of a Department in the Administration of the Council of Ministers.
"For the first time in the last 20 years, a political party has the opportunity to develop this judicial reform and implement it without being dependent on other political parties. The SJC and the Inspectorate to the SJC are the two organizations that control the judiciary, which is extremely important. Both have almost 3 years of expired mandate. The heads of the most important departments in the judiciary have expired their mandates. The European Court has repeatedly told us that this cannot be the case," said the former director of the National Investigation and former Deputy Prosecutor General Boyko Naydenov in the studio of "Denyat ON AIR".
He recalled that there are not one or two scandals in the justice system.
"There are also daily signals that are not resolved. Currently, the inspectorate cannot punish magistrates - a magistrate may do nothing, but he receives his salary and there is no way he can be punished. If he receives a punishment, he will appeal it to the Administrative Court and will fail. The BVS urgently needs to solve the problems accumulated over the years, to reorganize the work of courts and prosecutors' offices, to conduct inspections and investigations into the huge scandals that have become clear," added Naydenov on the air of Bulgaria ON AIR.
In his words, there will also be a need for new leaders.
"We will have to see who did what in the past years, because the justice system is up to its neck in the swamp. Public trust in the prosecutor's office is no more than 4-5%. The prosecutor's office is the one that should protect people's rights and protect the state. Many magistrates began to work not according to the requirements of the law, but with some conviction that everything can get away with them, since the SJC is on their side. Pay attention to the last two acting prosecutors general - each of them thought that he was eternal and no one would ever hold him to account," the former deputy prosecutor general emphasized. "The temptation to have your own Prosecutor General is great. But it is better to have a real and working SJC with professionals who know what they are doing so that they can do it. The Prosecutor General is a very strong figure and could always have an influence, even on political life. This needs to be removed because he was not elected by the people through elections. This Prosecutor General of ours is a remnant of the past and I hope that with this majority things could change", explained Boyko Naydenov.
He admitted that he does not know the new Minister of Justice.
"The name is completely unknown to me - it could be positive, that he is a person detached from all addictions", commented the guest. And "Democratic Bulgaria" suggests that the parliament deal with the "Eight Dwarfs" and Martin Bojanov-Notary.
"The commissions can collect materials. In these cases there is evidence of crimes committed and for me it is much more appropriate to investigate how these investigations were conducted, to see if anyone stopped them and why they stopped them. If crimes were committed, only the prosecutor's office can press charges and present them to the court, and the court can decide whether someone is guilty. The first steps are important, because the procedure is cumbersome," added Boyko Naydenov.