site.btaJudges Ask Supreme Judicial Council to Say whether Corruption Mechanisms Exist in Judiciary and Who Is to Blame

Judges Ask Supreme Judicial Council to Say whether Corruption Mechanisms Exist in  Judiciary and Who Is to Blame

Sofia, April 29 (BTA) - Judges of Sofia City Court (SCC) have
asked the Supreme Judicial Council to say whether or not
corruption mechanisms exist in the judiciary and who is to blame
for this.

Their call comes a couple of days after 30 magistrates of the
Bulgarian Judges Association wrote to the Judicial Council to
express dissatisfaction with a recent check into alleged
irregularities at the SCC. They said that a report from the
check lacked clear conclusions about the responsibility of the
former SCC leadership and an analysis of the facts that had been
established.

"A single judge cannot be blamed for all malpractice at the
SCC," said SCC Judge Atanas Atanassov apparently referring to
Judge Roumyana Chenalova who has been suspended from SCC and is
tried for a documentary offence and malfeasance in office.
Another SCC judge, Vessislava Ivanova, said that the lobbies
which are rumored to exist in the judiciary "are not among
grassroot magistrates". "We want the process of exposing all
facts to go to the end and the systemic problems to be addressed
with determination," said Judge Dessislava Dobreva.