site.btaPresident: Consultations Do Not Aim to Destroy Prosecution Service

December 19 (BTA) - The consultations with President
Radev on the need for revisions in the Constitution related to
the judiciary continued on Thursday with representatives of
NGO's and professional magistrates associations. At the start of
 the meeting, President Radev pointed out that the consultations
 do not aim to destroy Bulgaria Prosecution Office, and do not
cater to existing political parties, new political parties or
upcoming elections.

His comment comes a day after newly-elected Prosecutor General
Ivan Geshev said in an interview for the Bulgarian National
Television that the place of the prosecution service is within
the Judiciary and that otherwise the Prosecution cannot be
independent. He also said that the consultations with the
President might lead to the destruction of the prosecution
service.

According to President Radev, the public is growing ever more
sensitive to corruption and scandals that quickly fade away in
the media. That is why the topic of discussion during the
consultations is the constitutional model of Bulgaria's
Prosecution Office, and the model of the Bulgarian justice
system as a whole. According to him, the most pressing questions
 are whether there is room - and need - for revisions in the
Constitution to guarantee strong, efficient and independent
courts and prosecutors, and if so - how to do it.

In Radev's opinion, the revisions are necessary and can be done
in one of two ways: through detailed discussions, a viable
dialogue between institutions and the public; or through street
pressure, outside the boundaries of law, where consequences are
unpredictable.
  
The President added, though, that the most important of all
debates takes place in Parliament where all options, changes and
 consequences are being weighed, and the ways to implement these
 changes are evaluated.

Geshev: It is a political debate which pursues political goals

In his first televized interview Thursday morning, Prosecutor
General Ivan Geshev said on the Bulgarian National Television
that the consultations with the President are a political debate
 with apparent political goals.

"So far, I am not seeing anything related to the law in these
talks. [...] So far, I have not heard any rational, concrete
ideas, based on sound judicial arguments. In other words, we are
 starting a debate to find out what the topic of the debate is,"
 he said.

"My personal opinion, and I am sure I speak for all my fellow
prosecutors, is that the prosecution service should not fall
outside of the judiciary. And here is why: because otherwise it
would fall within the executive branch, thus precluding the
question of the independence of every prosecutor, and I have no
idea how to withstand the political pressure that will ensue. It
 will be part of everyday life. That would not be in the
interest of Bulgarian people," said Geshev.

"What hides behind this discussion are the political ideas of a
segment of politicians outside of Parliament to destroy the
prosecution service. They have two goals. One is to establish a
mechanism: not to control the Prosecutor General but rather to
remove a specific prosecutor general they do not like. And
secondly, there is the eternal goal of destroying the
prosecution service."

Strong support for changes concerning Supreme Judicial Council

The majority of the participants in the Thursday debate with the
 President supported the idea of changing the members and
structure of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) to decrease the
political presence on it.

According to Vladislav Slavov of the Union of Bulgarian Jurists,
 there is no room for a political quota on the SJC or at the
very least it should be severely downsized.

He believes that the judiciary cannot be independent if the SJC
is not restructured.
 
Judge Emil Dechev of the Union of Judges in Bulgaria agrees that
 the parliamentary quota on the SJC must be reduced. He put
forth the idea that the SJC plenum should only make decisions
concerning the judiciary's budget and buildings, rather than
have prosecutors taking part in the election of the presidents
of the Supreme Court of Cassation and the Supreme Appellate
Court.

During the debate, the European Institute for Strategies and
Analysis made public the results of a survey showing that the
public is against politicians interfering in the election of SJC
 members, judges and prosecutors. RY/MT




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