Bulgaria Found Guilty of Violating Rights of Outspoken Judge

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. Photo: EPA-EFE/PATRICK SEEGER

The European court's ruling concerned two sets of disciplinary proceedings against Todorova, who was the president of the Bulgarian Union of Judges at the time.

Bulgaria's Supreme Judicial Council ordered a reduction of her salary, then sacked her because of alleged delays in dealing with her cases.

The European court found that "the disciplinary proceedings against the applicant and the sanctions imposed on her had amounted to an interference with the exercise of her right to freedom of expression".

It said that the main aim of the disciplinary proceedings and the sanctions imposed on her had not been over the alleged delays, but "to penalise and intimidate her on account of her criticism of the SJC [Supreme Judicial Council] and the executive [government]".

Todorova is well-known in Bulgaria for her outspoken views on the need for reforms in politics and the country's judicial system. She criticised the Supreme Judicial Council for controversial appointments of court presidents who were close to the government, as well as the government's judicial policy, in 2010-11.

In 2011, the disciplinary board of the Supreme Judicial Council said that Todorova had delayed the delivery of judicial decisions or the giving of reasons for rulings in 57 cases, which had amounted to "systematic failure to meet deadlines".

The board proposed a 15 per cent reduction in her salary for two years as a disciplinary sanction.

Subsequently, she was found responsible for giving instructions to input incorrect data into the court's electronic register. She was dismissed in July 2011.

After appeals, Todorova was reinstated in July 2013 but in March...