The Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) rejected as unfounded the appeal of Boyko Atanasov against the decision of the Prosecutorial College of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) of February 18, 2026, by which Emilia Rusinova was appointed administrative head - city prosecutor of the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office.
The court accepts that at the time of the election, Rusinova had no disciplinary sanctions imposed by an act that has entered into force. According to the magistrates, the legality of the administrative act should be assessed as of the date of its issuance, and not on the basis of subsequent events, writes news.bg.
The decision also states that the assessment of the moral qualities of candidates for administrative heads in the prosecutor's office is carried out by the Commission on Professional Ethics at the Prosecutor's College of the Supreme Judicial Council.
The Supreme Judicial Council notes that the doubts regarding Rusinova's moral qualities arose after her election and were related to media publications presented as evidence in the case. It was they that gave grounds for the Prosecutor's College to initiate disciplinary proceedings against her.
According to the court, this disciplinary proceedings are independent and have no bearing on the legality of the election for administrative head. It is yet to be established whether the actions described in the publications were actually committed, whether they constitute disciplinary violations and whether a sanction should be imposed.
The magistrates emphasize that until the conclusion of the disciplinary proceedings, the presumption of innocence applies and the court should not discuss facts that are the subject of the separate proceedings.
A dissenting opinion of the judge-rapporteur was also issued in administrative case No. 2311/2026. According to him, the decision to appoint Rusinova is materially unlawful and should be annulled, since the election was made by a body whose mandate has expired. In his opinion, this contradicts provisions of the Treaty on European Union and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, which guarantee the independence of magistrates.
Emilia Rusinova is associated with Petyo Petrov - Pepi Euroto mainly because of allegations of joint trips abroad, which became grounds for disciplinary proceedings, as well as because of public allegations by the former European Prosecutor Teodora Georgieva. At the moment, these circumstances have not been established by a final act, and the disciplinary proceedings have not yet been concluded.