The so-called

"mechanism for the investigation of the chief prosecutor", which is intended to be introduced by the Ministry of Justice's draft amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) and the Judiciary Act (JAC), contradicts Bulgarian laws and the Constitution.

Such an opinion was expressed by the Association of Prosecutors in Bulgaria before representatives of the European Parliament (EP).  

The opinion of the largest independent class organization in Bulgaria has been sent to the President of the EP, Roberta Metzola, to her deputies, as well as to all chairmen of parliamentary groups in the European institution.

In it, the APB emphasizes that it is completely opposed to the adoption of such proposals for legislative amendments, as they are contrary to the principle of separation of powers and undermine the independence of the judiciary.

The opinion states that the proposal of investigating police officers from the structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to carry out the investigation against the chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev

Ivan Stoimenov Geshev was born on December 19, 1970.

Completed higher legal education in is a direct interference in the independence of the judiciary.

Investigating police officers, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, are subordinated first of all to their superiors, who in turn to the respective directors, and they, in turn, to the Minister of the Interior.

Logically, in this sense, a conclusion can be made that in this way it will be ensured that not "the appointed to investigate the Prosecutor General, a judge with the rank of Supreme Court" will lead the investigation, but the Minister of the Interior, which points solely to an attempt to interfere with the executive branch power in the work of the judiciary and specifically the prosecution.

This is an initial violation of the principle of separation of powers enshrined in the basic law of the country - the Constitution.  

"This will certainly not constitute an independent investigation, on the contrary, a mechanism will be provided for the interior minister to exercise a kind of control over the figure of the chief prosecutor," the APB's statement reads.  

At the moment, the accountability, publicity and transparency of the activity of the Prosecutor General is sufficiently guaranteed.

The result of the changes will be disastrous, both for the prosecution and for society as a whole.

Through the submitted proposals, there is no guarantee of accountability of the Prosecutor General and provision of a mechanism for his investigation, on the contrary, political, illegitimate goals to compromise the Prosecutor General and his deputies are apparent, the opinion also states.  

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According to the Management Board of the Association of Prosecutors in Bulgaria, it is puzzling why the changes do not address issues that require specific reforms that would be in the interest of society, including the victims of the crime. 

The APB also objects to the exclusion of the representatives of the prosecutor's office and the consequence of the quota of the National Assembly in the Supreme Judicial Council, provided for by the same bill.

"Prosecutors and investigators should be independent in the implementation of their constitutionally established powers, and they should have as many representatives in the SJC as judges do, since the Constitution does not make a division in this regard either."

The opposite would mean placing the prosecutors under the dependence of the judges and the public, the legal profession, etc.

specified in the proposal.

Thus, initially, it is inadmissible to push suggestions that only in the prosecutor's office, according to the proponents of the proposal, there is corruption, undue influence and low morale, which is false," the opinion says.  

The foreseen judicial control over the prosecutor's refusals to initiate pre-trial proceedings for serious intentional crimes of a general nature also appears to be redundant and illegal, since these acts are foreseen to be controlled by a superior prosecutor's office, the APB also says.

Ivan Geshev

European Parliament

Attorney General

prosecutors