site.btaParliament Starts Preparing Revisions of Constitution's Judiciary Part

Parliament Starts Preparing Revisions of Constitution's Judiciary Part

Sofia, May 8 (BTA) - MPs from all parliamentary groups agreed
during a working meeting on Friday for Parliament to start
preparing specific texts of a bill to amend the Constitution's
part concerning the Judiciary. The meeting, headed by Parliament
Chair Tsetska Tsacheva, was attended by deputy prime ministers
Meglena Kuneva, Roumyana Buchvarova and Justice Minister Hristo
Ivanov.

The MPs agreed that the bill's specific texts must be drafted
first and presented to all parliamentary groups, after which
broad support can be sought. Tsacheva explained that Parliament
will have to promptly elect a committee to work on the texts and
the rules of procedure upon the bill's submission.

According to her, the initiative for drafting the preliminary
texts of the bill must come from the groups forming the
parliamentary majority - GERB, the Reformist Bloc, the Patriotic
Front and ABV. The format is open to participation for MPs from
the other groups in parliament, Tsacheva added.

It is possible for the specific texts to be proposed on May 14,
while the committee should be elected by the end of the month
and start working on the submitted bill, Tsacheva explained.

It is normal for the majority to start this job, Tsacheva said,
adding that all parliamentary groups are expected to join and
support this, because amending the Constitution is a joint
endeavour of the National Assembly and not just the governing
majority.

Justice Minister Hristo Ivanov outlined the main proposals for
changing the Constitution - dividing the Supreme Judicial
Council (SJC) into a chamber of prosecutors and a chamber of
judges, enhancing the role of the SJC's Inspectorate, as well as
allowing courts to alert the Constitutional Court.

Earlier on Friday, the Justice Ministry issued a statement by
Ivanov in response to a letter he received from Supreme Court of
Cassation President Lozan Panov, Supreme Administrative Court
President Georgi Kolev and Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov,
in which they urge him to publish his Ministry's draft
amendments to the Judiciary Act for public discussion.

In his response, Ivanov recalls that he has stated a few times
already his intentions to publish his Ministry's draft
amendments for discussion after MPs submit their proposals for
amending the Judiciary's constitutional framework.

Ivanov addresses the so called "big three" in the Judiciary by
inviting them to take a stance on the problems with the SJC's
failure to elect a Sofia Appellate Court (SAC) president and the
fact that this is yet another case in which the SJC neglects
the position, stated by judges, on matters concerning the
management of the court they work in.

On April 30, the SJC failed for a third time to elect a SAC
president after the only candidate, judge Neli Kutskova,
received nine out of the 13 required votes.

Minister Ivanov raises the question of how the SJC's
disciplinary actions and ethical regulation are seen and if true
and comprehensive checks are being conducted when there are
doubts about the integrity of magistrates.

"Will an adequate form of bearing the respective professional
and leadership responsibility be found in light of the so called
"Kostinbrod affair", as well as numerous other similar cases,
which started in an extremely boisterous manner, raising
questions about the prosecuting magistracy's political
neutrality, only to end ingloriously in the courtroom?" Minister
Ivanov asks in his position.

On April 15, the Sofia City Court acquitted former Council of
Ministers chief secretary Rossen Zhelyazkov of all charges in a
case in which 350,000 excess ballot papers were found in a
printing house in Kostinbrod near Sofia on the eve of the May
12, 2013 early parliamentary elections.

Zhelyazkov was accused of failing to exercise control over the
monitoring of the ballot papers printing and the handling of any
discards. The prosecution then asked for a two years'
conditional sentence for Zhelyazkov.