site.btaLozan Panov Walks Out of Supreme Judicial Council Meeting

Lozan Panov Walks Out of Supreme Judicial Council Meeting

Sofia, January 21 (BTA) - Supreme Cassation Court (SCC) President Lozan Panov walked out of a Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) meeting on Thursday, saying he will only come back if the SJC's new representative member, Dimiter Ouzounov, provides his phone records. Panov's demand was occasioned by an infamous text message received by Prime Minister Boyko Borissov on January 14, informing him of the SJC's proceedings.

Panov urged all like-minded colleagues in the SJC to leave the meeting as well.

The way in which the SJC replaced its representative member on Wednesday also drew a reaction of surprise from Justice Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva.

The motion for the representative member's replacement was surprisingly submitted to the SJC by 12 of its 25 members at the start of the Council's Wednesday meeting and was eventually approved by the votes of 13 members. The new holder of the post, Dimiter Ouzounov, has been frequently mentioned in an ongoing scandal over possible political interference in the work of the SJC and the judiciary in general and is alleged to be "the Prime Minister's man" in the body of top administrative authority in the judiciary.

Meanwhile, the Bulgarian Judges' Association (BJA) came up with an open letter calling on Prime Minister Borissov to require his advisor Yane Yanev to disclose the source of the January 14 text message, which apparently showed that somebody, most likely an SJC member, was keeping the government leader updated in real time on the proceedings at the SJC.

The BJA noted that its open letter comes a day after the Prime Minister expressed his conviction that the executive branch of government should not interfere in the affairs of the judicial branch. The BJA observed, however, that the situation which has emerged in the last few days clearly creates the impression that such unacceptable interference is an actual fact which has resulted from actions taken by Yanev. These actions have included attacks and accusations against the SCC President and against the leadership of the Sofia City Court (SoCC), disclosure of documents about the way the SoCC is managed, and statements about the existence of a special office at the Council of Ministers which receives alerts and evidence about malpractices in the judicial system, the BJA wrote in the letter.

"It is perhaps needless to say that the principle of division of authority precludes any involvement on the part of your advisors in such actions," BJA wrote, addressing the Prime Minister. It noted that when members of the executive are alerted to suspected wrongdoings of judicial officers, the evidence should be handed over to the competent authorities, the SJC and its Inspectorate, not to the media.

The SJC asked the Prime Minister to express his view on Yanev's actions and either confirm that the actions have been coordinated with him or distance himself and punish Yanev.