site.btaNGOs Call against Political Influences on Supreme Judicial Council

NGOs Call against Political Influences on Supreme Judicial Council


Sofia, September 11 (BTA) - Nine NGOs observing the judicial
reform issued an appeal Thursday saying that political
influences on the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) should be
curbed by radically changing the mechanism of electing this
highest judicial authority which is in charge of appointments in
 the system.

During a conference which heard ideas about the judicial reform,
 the NGOs repeated their proposal to divide SJC into two
chambers: one for judges and the other for prosecutors and
investigators. The organizations said SJC should only come
together when it calls itself into session, rather than
functioning as a standing body.

"The SJC members elected by Parliament are often vehicles of
political ideas," said Vessislava Ivanova, a member of the
Bulgarian Judges Association (BJA). According to Alexander
Kashumov, who works for the Access to Information Programme, the
 changes proposed by the NGOs will correct the imbalance in the
justice system.

The observation that magistrates have been under political
pressure over the last few years was supported by BJA President
Tanya Marinova. She accused politicians of failing to identify
necessary parameters of the judicial reform in their political
programmes.

The NGOs suggested that judges should participate directly in
the management of the justice system by using their local
assemblies to propose candidates to high offices.

"The debate on the reform of the prosecution magistracy should
involve the magistracy itself," said judge Borislav Belazelkov,
who serves with the Supreme Cassation Court. Belazelkov called
for drawing a clear distinction between a single-leader system
and a centralized system when speaking about the prosecution
magistracy.

"The greater the need for reform, the stronger the resistance,"
concluded Margarita Ilieva of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee.
SN/VE

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