site.btaDisciplinary Proceedings Start against Seven Magistrates over High-Profile Trade-in-Influence Case

The Prosecutors Chamber of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) has initiated seven disciplinary proceedings against four prosecutors and three investigators over the Eight Dwarfs case. The seven magistrates are Dilyan Deyanov (prosecutor at the Pernik District Prosecution Office), Iveta Markovich (prosecutor at the Sofia District Prosecution Office, Kiril Peychinov (prosecutor at the Sofia Military District Prosecution Office) and Miroslav Iliev (prosecutor at the Burgas District Prosecution Office), as well as against Svetlana Stoyanova-Vayze, Neli Todorova and Petranka Rabadzhieva – investigators at the Investigation Department of the Sofia City Prosecution Office.

At end-August, Acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov has proposed disciplinary punishment for the four prosecutors and three investigators over what is largely known as the Eight Dwarfs case for trade in influence in the judiciary. The case took its name from a 2020 investigation of the Anti-Corruption Fund which exposed a ring for company theft and trading in influence, involving members of the judiciary.

In early July, Sarafov ordered that a team of the Sofia Appellate Prosecution Office check all prosecutors' files and pre-trial proceedings related to the case, including the 2021 decree with the refusal to initiate pre-trial proceedings. "The inspection has found numerous violations by the investigators and supervising prosecutors in ensuring the timely, lawful and successful conduct of the investigation and collection of the necessary evidence in the shortest possible time so as to reveal the truth in the pre-trial proceedings initiated by the now closed Specialized Prosecutor's Office," Sarafov's office said back then.