Reputational damage is not a reason to leave the Constitutional Court. This was stated to the Bulgarian National Radio by Assoc. Prof. Natalia Kiselova, lecturer in "Constitutional Law" and former Speaker of the National Assembly, after Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev presented information about trips abroad by Desislava Atanasova and Delyan Peevski. And the constitutional judge announced that the widespread claim about her joint trip to Dubai with the sanctioned "Magnitsky" leader of the DPS is not true.
Assoc. Prof. Kiselova believes that both Desislava Atanasova and Ivan Demerdzhiev are telling part of the truth.
"The checks are continuing, I think the whole picture will be clarified".
There were a series of efforts to hurt certain circles, the former Speaker of the National Assembly also pointed out in the program "12+3".
"I mean the leader of the MRF. This is an expected attack from the government and the majority".
The lecturer on "Constitutional Law" cites the provisions in the legal framework related to persons holding public positions.
"Then, when it comes to certain activities related to travel, treatment, training of them or persons related to them, it must be declared if the expenses are not from public resources, are not from members of their families. In this case, the information can be acquired relatively easily. And already on the basis of this, let's say that part of personal and family life is the subject of public information".
She commented on the fact that one of the flights was paid for by a law firm.
"It should be investigated whether there is a concluded contract for representation or performance of certain services that can be proven on the basis of concluded contracts".
For me, the information provided is incomplete, Kiselova noted.
The legal framework is in the Constitution, Chapter Eight on the Law on the Constitutional Court, she also commented.
"At the time when he is elected or appointed, the constitutional judge must meet certain requirements - high professional and moral qualities. After taking office and taking the oath, the grounds on which his mandate may be terminated will be either incompatibility, if he holds a position or carries out an activity that is incompatible with the position of a constitutional judge, or after a conviction for an intentional crime enters into force, because the judge enjoys immunity.
At the moment, we are only talking about an administrative violation, if the data has not been declared, and the flight expenses are at the expense of a person who should not pay for the travel of a judge.
Information was also disclosed that Ms. Atanasova traveled with a diplomatic passport. Here the question will surely arise: when you travel with a diplomatic passport, was it on business?
At the time when Ms. Atanasova was nominated and her candidacy was being discussed, my personal opinion was that she did not have high professional qualities to hold the position. People who claimed then that she had them, today claim that she does not have high moral qualities. For me, this hypocrisy is not very legally justified".
The immunity of a constitutional judge can be lifted if there is an intentional serious crime of a general nature. The Prosecutor General must request it, Kiselova further explained.
The former Speaker of the National Assembly expects that data on the case will continue to emerge in the coming weeks.
"I expect there to be information about the origin of the funds and the purposes of the trips".