The Supreme Judicial Council Tuesday established an ad hoc commission of inquiry for the participation of judges in a group for trade in influence in the judiciary, which transpired after the killing of Martin "The Notary" Bozhanov. The ad hoc commission will have a term in office of three months.
The commission will examine case files, request information from the bodies of the judiciary, the prosecution service, Interior Ministry services and the State Agency for National Security. It may also "hear people in connection with known circumstances".
The commission includes the Presidents of the Supreme Court of Cassation, Galina Zaharova, and of the Supreme Administrative Court, Georgi Cholakov, as well as Supreme Judicial Council members Tsvetinka Pashkunova, Veronika Imova, Daniela Marcheva, Olga Kerelska and Atanaska Disheva.
On Monday, the Bulgarian Judges Association put put a statement insisting that its representatives should be included in the ad hoc commission.
Martin "The Notary" Bozhanov was shot dead in a gated complex in a Sofia suburb on the evening of January 31. According to media reports, he was a large-scale fixer of people's problems with the judiciary. He has been implicated in building a network of connections with prosecutors and judges whom he allegedly bribed, threatened, blackmailed or otherwise pressured to treat his "clients" favourably. Pretrial proceedings have been initiated. An ad hoc committee of inquiry has been set up in Parliament to look into the facts and circumstances surrounding the activity of the group around Bozhanov.
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