site.btaPresident Vetoes Amendments Establishing Procedure for Investigation of Prosecutor General

ESD 13:19:01 10-02-2021
LG1330ES.113
106 POLITICS - PRESIDENT - VETO

President Vetoes Amendments
Establishing Procedure for Investigation
of Prosecutor General


Sofia, February 10 (BTA) - Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has imposed a suspensory veto on the Act to Supplement the Criminal Procedure Code, which establishes a procedure for investigation of the Prosecutor General, the head of State's Press Secretariat said on Wednesday. The revision was moved by the ruling GERB Party and passed by Parliament on January 29 in response to persistent criticism by the EU and the Council of Europe Venice Commission over the accountability of the Prosecutor General or rather the lack of such accountability.

Radev argues that the law does not provide a fair and certain solution to the lack of an effective mechanism for the investigation of a sitting prosecutor general or deputy prosecutor general. "The introduction of a new office of a 'prosecutor investigating the prosecutor general or a deputy prosecutor general' breaches a number of constitutional principles, including the independence of the court, the independence of prosecutors within the judiciary, and the equality of citizens before the law, the reasoning reads.

The President points out further that the lack of effective investigation against a sitting prosecutor general or deputy prosecutor general, as well as against senior public office holders in general, poses a major challenge to rule of law in Bulgaria.

"This is the third legislation initiated by the ruling majority over the last year and a half that has tried to address the issue. The wavering between various institutional options demonstrates that the issue is complicated, the concept for solving it is yet unclear, and the debate must continue at an expert level," the press release says.

Other Critics about Criminal Procedure Code Revisions

Objections to the amendments that the President has vetoed have already come, with more or less the same reasoning, from the Venice Commission and the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) Plenum. The Council of Europe has told Bulgaria that, while the revisions were a positive step, they appeared insufficient to fulfil the requirements for independence of an investigation concerning the prosecutor general. They made it clear that the proposed reform could only be seen as a temporary mechanism and set out very specific further steps that needed to be made.

They also said that the proposed procedure for electing the special prosecutor does not seem to ensure sufficient independence, suggested that the duration of the term of the special prosecutor be reduced from five to a maximum of three years, and called for allowing an investigation mechanism against the prosecutor general under which a judge / list of judges can also serve as ad hoc prosecutor(s).

Critics argue that the special prosecutor by no way can be independent as he or she is still a prosecutor who is elected by the majority at the SJC, which is under the enormous influence of the prosecutor general, and can be removed by the SJC for any misconduct, including such that has not been proved.

According to the SJC, the revisions fail to respond to the Venice Commission recommendations or to a judgment against Bulgaria rendered by the European Court of Human Rights in 2009 in the Kolevi v. Bulgaria case which highlighted the lacking legal guarantees that a sitting prosecutor general can actually be prosecuted in Bulgaria. The SJC also found that the revisions fail to clarify a number of questions about the special prosecutor's status and functioning.

Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev has said that the bill makes no legal sense.

The prosecution service has come up with a position on the revisions, signed by Deputy Prosecutor General Daniela Masheva, according to which a special prosecutor is unnecessary because the effective framework does not prevent any competent prosecutor from investigating the prosecutor general. RY/LG