site.btaMembers of Prosecutors Chamber of Supreme Judicial Council Propose Replacement of Bulgaria's Top Prosecutor

Members of the Prosecutors Chamber of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) have moved for the replacement of Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev be replaced, said the SJC Friday.

Their proposal cites "gross violation of official duties". 

The motion is signed by six out of the 11 members (including the Prosecutor General) of the Prosecutors Chamber.

Until this day, the Prosecutors Chamber have been staunch supporters of Geshev. All of them stood up for him when former Justice Ministers Yanaki Stoilov and Nadezhda Yordanova moved for Geshev's removal in 2021 and 2022.

The motion cites the behaviour of Ivan Geshev after a May 1, 2023, blast near his motorcade, that was initially presented to the public as an assassination attempt against Geshev. Also in the early hours after the blast, investigative officials quoted an Israeli counter-terrorism expert as assessing the blast as "very powerful" and saying that "fractions of a second saved the life of the people in the Prosecutor General's car". It later turned out that the incident was largely mispresented, leading to calls for the resignation of Borislav Sarafov as head of NIS and Deputy Prosecutor General, a rift between Sarafov and Geshev - and finally this motion by the Prosectors Chamber. 

Of the role of the Israeli expert in the investigation, the motion says that National Investigative Service (NIS) deputy director Yassen Todorov brought to the explosion scene "an Israeli citizen, who was introduced to the NIS director and deputy Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov, as well as to the investigators at the scene as 'an Israeli counter-terrorism expert' brought on the instructions of Ivan Geshev". "The foreign citizen was allowed at the explosion scene and was briefed on the circumstances of the crime and even gave directions to the investigators even though they were not aware of his identity and the position he holds."

The motion further says that the Prosecutor General does not have the right to give oral instructions to investigators. "This interference in the investigation is incompatible with the powers of the Prosecutor General by Constitution. Also, it violated the Code of Criminal Procedure because a person lacking procedural capacity was granted access to materials on the case on the oral instructions of the Prosecutor General."

The motion further says that Geshev's interference in the investigation "is particularly reprehensible" in a view of the fact that Geshev holds the position of top administrative leader of the prosecution service. They argue that Geshev's  behavior during the initial inspection of the crime scene was "a gross violation of his official duties".

The motion cites statements for the media by Prosecutor General Geshev, his deputy and NIS head Sarafov and his deputy at NIS Todorov.

Shortly after the SJC spread news of the motion for Geshev's removal over his interference in the investigation and the role of the Israeli expert, the Sofia City Prosecution Office, which is in charge of the May 1 blast investigation, put out a statement saying that "there was a foreign expert at the crime scene but was not allowed by the supervising prosecutors and did not participate in the investigative actions". 

In a related development, prosecutors from the Sofia Appellate Prosecutor's Office issued a declaration to back the motion of the SJC Prosecutors Chamber for Geshev's removal.