As the decisions of the two colleges have been adopted, they will continue – Marinika Cherneva takes office as acting chairwoman of the Supreme Administrative Court, and Borislav Sarafov – as acting chief prosecutor - this was explained to the media by the representative of the Supreme Judicial Council Boyan Magdalinchev after the decision of the Plenum of the SJC not to submit a request to the National Assembly (NA) for the interpretation of the text of Art. 173 para. 15 of the Judiciary Act.
Magdalinchev explained that the Judicial and Prosecutorial Colleges in the SJC have different positions. In the case of Sarafov and his appointment as acting prosecutor, it is taken into account that he does not have a mandate and was elected as acting prosecutor after the termination of Ivan Geshev's mandate as prosecutor general. Unlike the SAC, where Georgi Cholakov's mandate expired at the end of 2024, he was elected as acting prosecutor after that and under the provisions of the Judicial System Act, a new acting prosecutor (i.f.) had to be elected until the election of a titular one, which, according to Magdalinchev, is unknown when it will be, since the mandate of the SAC has expired and there is no member who can vote.
According to him, a new i.f. should be elected in six months. President of the Supreme Court of Cassation in place of Marinika Cherneva, following the text of the law.
Magdalinchev also commented on the position of two panels of the Supreme Court of Cassation, which indicated in two requests for the reopening of cases that Borislav Sarafov cannot be the acting Prosecutor General and does not have the right to request this. He pointed out that these court acts have effect only on the specific proposals for reopening and do not have a binding effect with regard to other cases at this time. Boyan Magdalinchev added that, if there is contradictory practice, the Supreme Court of Cassation may proceed to adopt an interpretative decision, in which the position will be unified and it will be mandatory.
During today's debate in the Plenum of the SJC, two members of the Prosecutorial College Stefan Petrov and Ognyan Damyanov indicated that they will not support asking the National Assembly, since the position of the College is clear – the provision in the JSA is inapplicable to the decision to appoint Borislav Sarafov as acting. It was also noted that the confirmation of their decision on Sarafov from September was not appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court.
Olga Kerelska from the Judicial College noted that so far a request has been made to the parliament twice for an interpretative law on different texts, one around 2018, and to date neither of the two has received a response. The Chairperson of the Supreme Administrative Court, Galina Zakharova, stated that the text of the provision is clear.