site.btaAssociation of Prosecutors in Bulgaria Says Doubts Remain after Procedure for Prosecutor General's Dismissal

In a statement to the media, the Association of Prosecutors in Bulgaria said that "a number of doubts remain about the procedure for early dismissal of Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev".

According to the Association of Prosecutors, there are different interpretations of the phrase "political trash" used by the Prosecutor General in the legal circles and the society.

The use of the phrase during a news conference triggered the procedure that led to Geshev's dismissal. On June 12, the Plenum of the Supreme Judicial Council voted to dismiss him on a proposal by four members of the Prosecutors Chamber, who said that by using "political trash" in reference to politicians in Parliament he undermined the prestige of the judiciary. President Rumen Radev is yet to decide whether to sign the decree to dismiss Geshev.

The position of the Association of Prosecutors says that the dismissal procedure did not give "a clear and convincing answer on the motives for its initiation and the observance of the steps in the procedure, which in turn makes the final result challengeable."

The prosecutors also oppose the changes in the Judiciary Act and the Criminal Procedure Code regarding the accountability of the prosecutor general, as well as the changes affecting the election of the members of the Supreme Judicial Council from the professional quota.

"In the fragmentary ideas for constitutional reforms circulating in the public space there are ideas that are exotic, unfeasable and definitely harmful for the Bulgarian conditions. The constitutional place of the Prosecutor's Office, as a guarantor against arbitrariness and violation of the fundamental values of our society, is in the judiciary. A genuine, thorough, professional and principled debate is needed," the Association of Prosecutors further stated.