site.btaSJC Unanimously Suspends Vladimira Yaneva as Sofia City Court President

SJC Unanimously Suspends Vladimira Yaneva as Sofia City Court President

Sofia, February 19 (BTA) - The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC)
unanimously suspended Vladimira Yaneva as President of the Sofia
City Court.

The suspension was proposed by Prosecutor General Sotir
Tsatsarov at the start of Thursday's meeting on the grounds that
pre-trial proceedings had been launched against Yaneva earlier
this week. She had been invited to a hearing by the SJC but sent
a written opinion instead of appearing.

Yaneva was also suspended as a judge. Before the proposal was
put to the vote, SJC member Yuliana Koleva said she was against
Yaneva's suspension as a judge on the grounds that the pre-trial
proceedings were instituted for actions Yaneva could perform
only as the court's president. However, the Prosecutor General
said he could not imagine the two capacities separated.

The proceeding has been launched over a recent scandal with a
wiretapping operation codenamed Worms. The Worms scandal was
triggered by a statement of Atanas Atanassov, Chairman of the
Parliamentary Internal Security Committee, about wiretapping of
protestors against the government of prime minister Plamen
Oresharski in 2013-2014. Subsequently, it transpired that the
question is about information leakage from the Interior
Ministry for unknown purposes after Yaneva authorized the use
of special surveillance means (SSM) for 300 days.

Tsatsarov also explained that a former Interior Ministry
employee, now working for the State Agency for National
Security, is being investigated within the proceeding for
drafting official documents on the authorization of the use of
SSM, which, however, contained false circumstances. Formal
charges have not been pressed so far. Tsatsarov also said that
evidence is being collected and the circle of defendants may be
broadened. The proceeding has been separated from the overall
check of the Interior Ministry's Security Directorate.

At the SJC meeting, Supreme Court of Cassation President Lozan
Panov urged Yaneva and her deputies to resign.

Earlier in the day, Panov and Justice Minister Hristo Ivanov
submitted a proposal for disciplinary proceedings against
Yaneva and Bogdana Zhelyavska, Vice President of the Sofia City
Court and Head of the Court's Civil College. Panov pointed out
that the proposal is based on facts about violations and Yaneva
should step down.