The Supreme Judicial Council unanimously decided to leave Yankulov's request for the removal of Borislav Sarafov without consideration and sent the case to the Prosecutor's Chamber to decide on its competence, Nova TV reported.
The plenum of the Supreme Judicial Council met today at a meeting convened by the acting Minister of Justice Andrey Yankulov with a single item on the agenda - the appointment of a new acting Prosecutor General.
The Ministry of Justice announced that the request was motivated by an opinion of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Cassation. According to him, after July 21, 2025, there will be no legitimately performing the functions of Prosecutor General in Bulgaria.
According to Minister Yankulov, Borislav Sarafov's powers have been terminated by law, and his continued de facto performance of the functions creates a serious institutional crisis.
Yankulov also argued his position by saying that as head of the prosecution, Sarafov practically exercises almost the same amount of powers as the titular Prosecutor General. The minister pointed out that there are judicial panels that do not recognize the legitimacy of the acting Prosecutor General, which, according to him, creates additional tension and the risk of an institutional crisis in the judicial system. Therefore, in his words, it is the plenum of the SJC - as a common body of the two chambers - that should decide whether to dismiss Sarafov and, if necessary, appoint his successor.
The meeting began shortly after 9:30 a.m., after the necessary quorum was ensured. There was no immediate discussion after the Minister's presentation. The first to speak was Ognyan Damyanov from the Prosecutor's Office. He expressed his opinion that the law does not distinguish between the so-called "big three" in the judiciary and questioned the thesis that different standards should be applied only to the acting Prosecutor General. Damyanov defended the position that it is the College that is the competent body to appoint an interim head of the Prosecutor's Office. He argued this with its powers to elect administrative heads in the system.
However, representatives of the Judicial College objected, stating that since the presidents of the supreme courts are elected by the plenum, they see no reason to apply a different approach to the Prosecutor General.
At the end of the discussion, the President of the Supreme Court of Cassation, Galina Zakharova, also expressed her position, stating that the acting Prosecutor General should be elected by the relevant college, and not by the plenum of the council.