Supreme Judicial Council

Now the members of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) should show whether they are independent and emancipated, Justice Minister Yanaki Stoilov commented for Bulgarian National Television (BNT) Saturday, as quoted by his ministry.
   

The caretaker Minister of Justice Yanaki Stoilov has submitted to the Supreme Judicial Council a request for opening a procedure for early termination of the powers of Bulgaria's Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev, accroding to BNR reporter Silvia Velikova.  The request is in connection with a report by the caretaker Minister of Interior on violations committed by the Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev

Desptie a protest in front of the building of the Supreme Judicial Council, its prosecutors' board today unanimously elected a new head of the specialized prosecutors' office, and the only candidate for the post - Valentina Madzharova.

7 members of the prosecutors' board in the SJC voted "yes", none was against.

The Bulgarian Judges Association (BJA) has demanded the resignation of the entire Supreme Judicial Council (SJC). In a letter to SJC's plenum, BJA lists a series of reasons for the demanded resignation.

All opinions received so far at the Bulgarian Justice Ministry in connection with a reform of the judicial map proposed by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) are negative, the Ministry said on Monday during a discussion it organized on accessible and effective justice.

A new procedure for proposing six European Delegated Prosecutors from Bulgaria will begin on June 16. This transpired at a news conference that European Chief Prosecutor Laura Kovesi held here on Friday before the end of her two-day visit to Sofia. She added that a constructive solution to the issue had been found after her meetings in the Bulgarian capital.

The agreement with the Bulgarian Prosecutor's Office for the appointment of 10 delegated European prosecutors is still in force and the issue is not up for discussion, the EU's new Chief Prosecutor Laura Kövesi was quoted as saying Thursday by the Bulgarian justice ministry. Kövesi is set to speak to the press on Friday.

Bulgaria's caretaker Minister of Justice Prof. Yanaki Stoilov and his team held a meeting with the European Chief Prosecutor Laura Kövesi on June 10.

"When there is no effective solution to one issue, people tend to seek the prosecutor's office, but it also fuels over-expectations. It's function to control rule of law is only on certain issues and its task is to investigate crimes, not to be a second instance of administration control."  This was stated by caretaker Minister of Justice Yanaki Stoilov.

The Plenum of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) Thursday voted, 18-3, to adopt a declaration against the closure of the specialized criminal courts and prosecution offices as proposed by legislative revisions which did not reach a plenary debate before President Rumen Radev dissolved Parliament on Wednesday. The discussion on the declaration lasted two hours.