With regard to the head of the SGP, Ms. Emilia Rusinova, the prosecutor's college found that there were sufficient circumstances related to the proposals made in the previous minister, Mr. Yankulov, for disciplinary proceedings and decided to initiate such proceedings, and also appointed a disciplinary panel, which was announced after the closed part of the session. This was stated by the Minister of Justice, Nikolay Naydenov, to journalists after a session of the Supreme Judicial Council.
With regard to Borislav Sarafov, the prosecutor's college found that for some of the allegations contained in Mr. Yankulov's report there was not enough data on committed violations, and for other parts of the points, that the statute of limitations for initiating such proceedings had expired. That is, on the one hand, there are material obstacles, on the other, procedural obstacles to initiating such a type of proceedings, the Minister specified.
Both decisions were made unanimously, he explained.
There is a 14-day period after receiving the protocols for appeal. I do not want to commit to a categorical position on whether I will appeal or not, but during the long discussions, extremely detailed arguments were presented related to shortcomings or allegations of shortcomings in the requests made. I have heard them for the first time now. I will familiarize myself with the minutes of the meeting and, if there are grounds, I will file an appeal with the Supreme Administrative Court. In the absence of such grounds, I will submit the request anew, said the Minister of Justice.
Regardless of the result, especially for Mr. Sarafov, the allegations in the signal are worrying. Although there is no basis, according to the Prosecutor's College, for engaging his disciplinary responsibility and even for initiating such proceedings, I believe that the prestige of the judiciary has been damaged and the necessary actions must be taken in this direction so that it can be restored. As Minister of Justice, I will act in this direction, Naydenov was categorical.
We recall that Sarafov resigned as Prosecutor General on April 22. After that, the Prosecutor's College appointed Vanya Stefanova to take up the position for a period of 6 months.