The Prosecutorial College of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) voted unanimously against the request of the Minister of Justice Nikolay Naydenov to temporarily remove prosecutor Emilia Rusinova as head of the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office, while the disciplinary proceedings against her are being conducted. This is reported by BTA.
In this regard, the college has also adopted a statement from a lawyer representing Rusinova regarding the request. It was made on the basis of Art. 232 para. 1 and para. 2 of the Judiciary Act, the provisions entered into force on July 1.
When voting on the agenda item, Yordan Stoev and Kalina Chapkanova recused themselves. The decision for Rusinova was made in a closed session, with six members of the board voting against the removal and no votes in favor.
The consideration of the request was postponed twice - on July 8 and 15, when the board did not have a quorum to meet.
The acting Minister of Justice, Andrey Yankulov, announced in April that a proposal had been submitted to initiate disciplinary proceedings against Emilia Rusinova. The arguments are related to crossing the country's border twice with former investigator Petyo Petrov, nicknamed Euro, and Kristiyan Hristov, at a time when the "Eight Dwarfs" case was already publicly known. At that time, there was already information about files being opened to clarify the facts of the case, Yankulov added at the time.
I categorically state that the allegations that I proposed or mediated meetings and relationships with individuals are also false, Emilia Rusinova stated in a written position sent to the media in April.