site.btaSpecial Magistrate Mulled to Investigate Prosecutor General - Justice Minister

January 5 (BTA) - A move is being planned to designate a special magistrate to investigate the Prosecutor General in the presence of data for breach constituting a crime, Justice Minister Nadezhda Yordanova said on Wednesday, speaking during a hearing in the parliamentary Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs.

In Yordanova's words, a mechanism for the selection of the magistrate is being prepared which she said will be similar to the random allocation of cases, will be automated, and will rule out human and subjective interference. The magistrate will be selected amongst "a circle of magistrates with the relevant qualifications and level". Additional guarantees are also prepared to protect the investigative magistrate.

Yordanova said that amending the constitution is the safest mechanism to resolve the structural problem in the judicial system, including judicial self-governance, the status of the prosecutor general, as well as the introduction of the constitutional complaint.

The Justice Ministry is drawing up a legislative motion related to sanctions arising from the US Magnitsky Act intended to put in place guarantees for protection of law-abiding Bulgarian legal entities and individuals, Yordanova said. LN/ZH//

.