The "Petrohan" case raises serious questions about the actions of the prosecutor's office, the State Security Agency and other institutions that over the years have received information related to the group around the hut. This was stated by the former Minister of Justice Andrey Yankulov in the program “Na Fokus“.
“This is a very complex problem for me, because it reveals deficiencies on many levels“, said Yankulov.
According to him, the behavior of the institutions that were notified about the group's actions should be put in first place.
“What I would identify is the institutional behavior of the authorized institutions such as the Prosecutor's Office, the State Agency “National Security“ and so on over the years, when they were notified with specific information about what this group was doing. There was no adequate institutional reaction“, he said.
Yankulov also pointed out the different positions of the institutions on the case.
“We even saw recently that they themselves somehow passed the ball. Last week, the leadership of the National Security Agency shifted the blame to the prosecutor's office - for having referred him information, and there was no adequate development there,“ said the former justice minister.
According to him, an additional problem is the public's distrust of institutions, which creates conditions for the spread of different versions.
Regarding the accusation against Borislav Sandov, Yankulov asked why the institutions' actions in the case have become more active now.
“This accusation, which we learned about at the end of last week, bears exactly these marks. Because the content of the agreement in question, which Mr. Sandov denies, became clear last year,“ he said.
According to him, the prosecutor's office is a highly hierarchical structure and an important factor is the way in which its key units are managed. He pointed to the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office and the Appellate Prosecutor's Office as structures whose actions are important for the development of specific investigations.
“Whether there will be any change with the same personnel and a change in the substantive actions, this is, in my opinion, something we will have to observe first“, said Yankulov.
The conversation also touched on the upcoming election of a new Supreme Judicial Council. Yankulov is among the nominees for a member of the council. According to him, the election will take place in a different institutional environment due to the processes in the prosecutor's office in recent months.
“This strict hierarchy has been violated on the one hand by the lack of a titular chief prosecutor. On the other hand, since February we have seen processes in the prosecutor's office, requests from people from within to oppose the leadership of the institution. This is also a novelty“, he said.
According to him, this creates a different environment for both the professional and parliamentary quota of the SJC.
Yankulov also commented on the upcoming election of the parliamentary quota, indicating that in his opinion the political situation in the National Assembly is different from previous periods.
“The monolithic itself is clearly absent. The main political forces, which are alleged to be making some claims that they will gather this majority, on the one hand say that they will gather it for the SJC, but on the other hand, they are in opposition on other topics“, he said.
In conclusion, the former Minister of Justice stated that there are many unknowns surrounding the election, but the current situation is different and this is precisely what could change the way in which the election of the new SJC will proceed.