Two months ago, Borislav Sarafov was the acting Prosecutor General, Emilia Rusinova was the acting administrative head of the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office. Currently, one is an ordinary investigator, and the other is under threat of being removed. This was commented on by Justice Minister Nikolay Naydenov in the program “Hello, Bulgaria” in connection with the cleansing of the judicial system.
The temporary suspension proceedings provide for this to happen within a period of 7 days, which expires today and will obviously not be respected, it became clear from the words of the Minister. “I hope that within the next week the Prosecutor's College will consider this case again. Otherwise, it will mean that she is not implementing the law”, said the Minister of Justice, adding that he has legal means to counter it if a decision is not made.
The ministry is already working on a bill to amend the Judiciary Act as soon as possible. “Part of the Judiciary Act that will be amended is to ban the so-called eternal bosses. Because we believe that the first distortion begins there”, explained Naydenov. The goal is to elect a new Supreme Judicial Council in the fall under new rules, with enhanced checks on the integrity of candidates.
Regarding the allegations about magistrates being held in dependence through unregulated special intelligence means, the minister pointed out that the problem lies in their use without leading to pre-trial proceedings and indictments. Legislative amendments are planned to make the process more independent. "So that not only one judge gives such permits," Naydenov noted and specified that a random selection will be introduced among a certain circle of judges with the relevant specialization. He confirmed that there will be a check of all permits given and the way in which the collected evidence was processed.
In connection with the sanctions under the "Magnitsky" law and Delyan Peevski's income, the Minister of Justice emphasized that the Minister of the Interior has the support of the entire government. According to Naydenov, the Bulgarian legal system must develop its own legislation in this area. "It is obvious that our legislation in this direction can be improved in order to protect our financial interests and investigate all these phenomena," he pointed out.
According to the Minister of Justice, the plan for the next few months at least includes the new composition of the SJC to begin intensive work on an objective assessment of the previous elections and appointments. “We want to improve the way people enter this judicial system, so that people who are at the entrance don't end up having to leave halfway through because of a lack of certain qualities or the way they entered”.