site.btaSofia City Court Leadership Issues Position on Judges' Letter to Supreme Judicial Council

Sofia City Court Leadership Issues Position on Judges' Letter to Supreme Judicial Council


Sofia, December 23 (BTA) - The leadership of the Sofia City
Court has issued its position on a letter sent by 24 judges from
the court to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), with copies
sent to Parliament and the European Commission Representation to
Sofia.

Two checks authorized by the SJC have been made on the court
leadership - the President and her Deputies - in connection with
random case allocation and the computer network used by the
Court, the position says.

The first check found no specific irregularities in the
computerized case allocation. The recommendations have been
fully implemented. The recommendations given after the second
check and a hearing of the leadership on December 17 are being
implemented.

The court leadership was surprised by the second letter, dated
December 22 and signed by 24 judges of the Sofia City Court, who
asked the SJC to order a new check at the court before the
deadline of the recommendations had expired.

On Monday, judges asked the SJC to issue an opinion on whether
the Sofia City Court's leadership is competent. The judges claim
that the SJC did not react adequately to their previous letter
and insist that the questions they asked must be answered.

The court President and her Deputies have always tried to engage
in dialogue with the judges and staff members to solve any
problems in the interest of all, the position says.

The Sofia City Court has 550 judges and staff members and the
sending of letters circulated by the media has a very bad impact
on the people working at the court and on the public image of
the institution, the leadership says.

Seven EU ambassadors of Sofia-based embassies stated their
support for the magistrates who demand the resignation of the
leadership of the Sofia City Court - "a key jurisdiction
responsible for some of the most sensitive cases" - and defended
the further application of the Cooperation and Verification
Mechanism (CVM) in an open letter posted on the British
Embassy's website.

The magistrates' initiative was provoked by doubts about the
operation of the random case allocation software in the Sofia
City Court's Commercial Division in a case for the bankruptcy
of Domain Menada Winery and Belvedere Distribution. In a bTV
interview, French Ambassador Xavier Lapeyre de Cabanes accused
Judge Roumyana Chenalova of mishandling the bankruptcy case
against the two subsidiaries of the French Belvedere Group, and
expressed doubts about the manner in which the case had been
allocated to her.

The seven EU ambassadors stated: "The [Sofia City Court]
President and her Deputies immediately rejected the call to
resign and the allegations in the open letter, and it is not our
place to judge who is right and who is wrong."

They also said in the open letter: "When a group of respected
professionals raises concerns and questions such as these, they
deserve careful consideration and a full response."

The letter also stressed that "the magistrates themselves will
be the key players in making a reformed judicial system work.
Many of them have given a lot of thought to what needs to be
done and how. Their efforts need to be recognised and heard."