Two panels of the Supreme Court of Cassation accepted that Borislav Sarafov is no longer the acting Prosecutor General as of July 21 and refused to initiate proceedings on his requests.
„This means that from now on, the court will consider all acts of the Prosecutor General as null and void, since they were issued by an incompetent body. The Supreme Court of Cassation accepted that since his temporal competence has expired by law, he is not competent to act as Prosecutor General as of today“, explained in “Face to Face“ Assoc. Prof. Deyana Marcheva, lecturer in constitutional law.
From now on, in every case, every act of the Prosecutor General risks being interpreted as null and void when it reaches the court,“ she explained.
What will happen to the acts that Sarafov issued after July 21?
„We do not have such a general action to declare all acts of the Prosecutor General null and void. In each individual proceeding, each interested party may invoke the nullity of these acts and the court will assess each specific case“, Assoc. Prof. Marcheva further explained.
According to her, from now on, the SJC should fulfill its obligation and conduct the procedure for the election of a new Prosecutor General.
In our country, the law is at risk because for years the parliament has not fulfilled its obligations to elect the constitutional bodies - the Inspectorate and the SJC. But in this case, the ball is more in the hands of the prosecutorial college and the SJC, which could elect another acting Prosecutor General or conduct a procedure for the election of a Prosecutor General“, commented Assoc. Prof. Deyana Marcheva.