The Prosecutor's Office cannot be held hostage by one person, said the acting Minister of Justice Andrey Yankulov on bTV. According to him, there is a situation in which the Supreme Court of Cassation (SCC) has issued an opinion that it considers the acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov to be illegitimate. “The Supreme Judges refuse to consider his specific requests. A huge number of appellate courts in the country are doing the same. However, he refuses to leave the post“, said Yankulov.
He also explained that since Sarafov's temporary mandate has been terminated, an acting (i.f.) should be appointed in order to “end the severe crisis we are in“. The Prosecutor's Office as an institution could not operate legally without a chief prosecutor, said the acting minister.
“The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) without an expired mandate could not elect a holder of the post, but for an i.f. there is no problem. We are facing a severe crisis of the rule of law and the SJC must in this case enter into its powers“, said Yankulov. He added that he could not predict what the SJC would do, but if they were responsible, they should exercise their powers.
Yankulov added that Sarafov was appointed by the SJC prosecutorial college nearly three years ago. According to the acting minister, the election should be made by the SJC plenum. “We have seen many decisions from the SJC that do not inspire public trust. Their adequate behavior would overcome a serious constitutional crisis“, Yankulov added.
If the members of the SJC abdicate from proposing candidates for acting prosecutor general, I am ready to make such a proposal, Yankulov added.
He added that the appointment of an acting prosecutor general does not depend on the Minister of Justice. What he can do is to bring the debate to public attention, said the caretaker minister.
In his words, piecemeal reforms should not be made, but restoring constitutional order is not judicial reform.
There is always such a risk, Yankulov replied when asked if there was a risk of changing the name of the acting prosecutor general, but there would be no real change. We should not concentrate things on specific individuals. The reform is, first of all, the way in which the powers in the system are exercised, he said.
The caretaker minister of justice explained that the accusations against Stoil Tsitselkov show “a very serious trend, some rather intensified and unmeasured attacks against the current caretaker government, even before its first day“. BTA recalls that a few days ago, political forces spread information that Stoil Tsitselkov had been arrested for using marijuana and driving under the influence of alcohol. Tsitselkov resigned as Deputy Prime Minister last week.
I am convinced that my colleagues from the Ministry of Internal Affairs will not do anything that is defined as a purge, Yankulov said.
According to him, during the caretaker government, the role of the Ministry of Justice, which he will try to fulfill, is to show a slightly different model of interaction with the judiciary.
When asked how to judge whether he has done his job in a few months, he replied that it should be judged by whether the narrative in the public space, which understands the interaction between the Ministry of Justice, the executive and the judiciary, will change. And by whether the crisis we are facing can become the main topic, said the caretaker minister.