site.btaAnalysis of Performance of Special Prosecution Office to Take Three Months

May 20 (BTA) - An analysis of the performance of the
specialized prosecution services, which prosecute organized
crime, will take three months. It was decided Thursday by the
Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), the top administrative body of
the judiciary, which thus voted down a proposal by caretaker
Justice Minister Yanaki Stoilov to give the scrutiny unit until
the end of June to complete the task.

The decision was voted after two hours of debates.

The work of the specialized prosecution service will be subject
to an analysis after the newcomers in the Parliament, which was
elected April 4 and dissolved just over a month later for
failing to form a government, moved for disbanding the
specialized prosecution services and courts. They argued that
these are being used as instruments of repression against
opponents of the power-holders.

The prosecution service and other advocates of special
jurisdictions argued that the proposal was made without even
analysing the work of specialized prosecutors and courts.

The Justice Minister said that 40 days was perfectly enough and
taking longer seems to be aiming to postpone seeing the real
results.

Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev argued that the Justice
Minister's desire to have the analysis accomplished in 40 days
was unrealistic and the time not enough for an objective
analysis. "We have never made a commitment to cater to political
 interests, we are not servants to the political class," said
Geshev.

He also said that some politicians want to rush an inadeqiate
analysis that would serve the interests of certain political
parties and not those of Bulgarian people.

He believes it is a good idea to include EU prosecutors in the
scrutiny team. RY/


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