site.btaSupreme Judicial Council Candidates Interviewed at General Meeting of Judges

ESD 18:45:32 10-06-2017
VE1845ES.106
106 POLITICS - JUDGES - GENERAL MEETING

Supreme Judicial Council
Candidates Interviewed
at General Meeting of Judges


Sofia, June 10 (BTA) - Judges from all over Bulgaria gathered for a general meeting in Sofia Saturday to interview 27 candidates to the next Supreme Judicial Council (SJC). The nominees are contesting six positions in the Judges College of the SJC. At the opening of the meeting, Supreme Cassation Court President Lozan Panov said: "If the judicial system is the liver, our society suffers from acute cirrhosis." Panov is one of the outspoken advocates of further reforms in the judiciary.

He urged the judges to declare that they are able to fight for justice and to show which magistrates are worthy. "I know about people who fear that any criticism against them could make them lose their job," Panov said, adding that "the unbearable macroclimate is suffocating the judges."

He further noted: "It is about time we tell the truth, so we can achieve the most important consensus - a consensus about what kind of system we want to work in. We need to feel like a community, but only if we are united around shared values."

One of Panov's opponents, Supreme Administrative Court President Georgi Kolev, urged his colleagues to ignore the suggestion that the judicial system is not working. "There may be mistakes, but the system is working," Kolev said. "Do not listen to those who say that you are in a situation where you need to be treated for cirrhosis." LN/VE