site.btaProtestors Demand Radical Judicial Reform, Nationalists Resent Davutoglu Visit

Protestors Demand Radical Judicial Reform, Nationalists Resent Davutoglu Visit

Sofia, December 16 (BTA) - Politicians, public figures and magistrates joined hundreds of other protestors who gathered in front of Sofia's Palace of Justice on Tuesday evening to demand a radical judicial reform.

Reformist Bloc MPs Radan Kanev, Atanas Atanassov, Vili Lilkov, Ivan Ivanov, Grozdan Karadjov, Martin Dimitrov and Peter Slavov and former deputy justice minister Petko Petkov took part in the protest.

In what they called "The March of the Free", the demonstrators proceeded to the Council of Ministers and on to the Parliament building. This latest in a series of evening protests came before Wednesday conclusive vote on amendments to the Constitution. The revisions fell short of a more radical revision proposed by Justice Minister Hristo Ivanov as part of a judicial reform package, intended to guarantee the independence of the judiciary from the legislature and the executive and to introduce a modicum of accountability for the Prosecutor General. Ivanov resigned after Parliament did not support his proposal.

On Tuesday evening, the protestors chanted "Down with [Prosecutor General Sotir] Tstatsarov!", "Judicial Reform Now!", "Mafia!" and "We'll Sweep You Out!"

They were joined by another procession, of ecologists, who insisted that a forestry reform and judicial reform is the only way to stop unlawful felling, corruption and the politically condoned devastation of the natural environment in this country.

In separate daylong actions, several nationalist organizations protested the visit of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. Ataka staged a rally in front of the central bank building. Addressing his supporters, the nationalist party leader Volen Siderov called for closing Bulgaria's border with Turkey and severing diplomatic relations with that country and argued that Turkey must not be admitted to the EU. In the evening, the nationalists marched in a torchlight procession to Parliament building. They were prevented by police from reaching the nearby Turkish Embassy and Turkish Ambassador's Residence. A protest procession on the same occasion also took place in Plovdiv (South Central Bulgaria), its destination being the Turkish Consulate General.