The Constitutional Court rejected the request of a panel of the Court of Appeal - Varna to establish the unconstitutionality of Art. 173, para. 15 of the Judiciary Act, the court's press center announced. All 12 constitutional judges participated in the hearing. The decision was signed with an opinion by judges Pavlina Panova, Atanas Semov, Yanaki Stoilov, Sonya Yankulova and Borislav Belazelkov. The decision was reported by Judge Yanaki Stoilov, BTA specified.
The request of the Appellate Court - Varna is whether the text in the Judicial System Act (ed. note: Art. 173, para. 15) regarding the early termination of the mandate of the Prosecutor General, the appointment of a temporary acting prosecutor and the term in which the same person performs them contradicts the Constitution. The Varna court also asks the Constitutional Court how to interpret the provision - as one that does not affect existing cases or its consequences also cover persons designated as acting as Prosecutor General before its entry into force.
The text of Art. 173, para. 15 of the JSA refers to the Prosecutor General and the Presidents of the Supreme Court of Cassation and the Supreme Administrative Court and states: “Upon early termination or expiration of the mandate of the Prosecutor General, the President of the Supreme Court of Cassation or the President of the Supreme Administrative Court shall be designated as temporarily performing the relevant functions, subject to the following condition: the same person shall not have the right to perform the relevant functions for a period longer than six months, regardless of whether there have been interruptions in the performance of the functions.“
The Court of Appeal noted that the request for the reopening of a criminal case, which they are considering, is conditioned by the resolution of the question of whether the person designated to perform the functions of Prosecutor General by a decision of the Prosecutorial College of the Supreme Judicial Council (ed. note - Borislav Sarafov), has at the time of referral the authority to request the reopening of a criminal case.
On October 16, 2025 The Plenum of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) decided not to request from the National Assembly an authentic interpretation of the provision of Art. 173, para. 15 of the Judiciary Act (JCA). The decision was taken unanimously after a short debate.
With regard to the text of the JCA, the members of the Prosecutorial College accepted that the provision is inapplicable to the acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov and confirmed his election to this position.
In early October, two panels of the Supreme Court of Cassation refused to initiate proceedings on requests filed by the acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov for the resumption of criminal cases. According to the opinion of the SJC, Sarafov cannot be the acting Prosecutor General.