site.btaEx-Prosecutor General Geshev Fails to Rejoin Prosecution Service

The Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) dismissed as unfounded Ivan Geshev's appeal against a Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) refusal to reinstate him as a rank-and-file prosecutor after his dismissal as prosecutor general last summer, the SAC press office reported on Friday.

Geshev was dismissed as prosecutor general on June 12, 2023 over damaging the prestige of the judiciary after he called for "sweeping the political waste out of the National Assembly". Judiciary members have no legal right to make political statements. Geshev's deputy until June, Borislav Sarafov, is acting Prosecutor General.

The SAC left without consideration Geshev's complaint against a decision by the SJC Prosecutors' Chamber which accepted for information his statement that he would not like to take a prosecutor's job at the Supreme Cassation Prosecution Office (SCPO). The SAC also dismissed Geshev's appeal against another decision by the SJC Prosecutors' Chamber which discontinued the procedure for his appointment as an SCPO prosecutor.

On June 16, 2023, Geshev asked to be appointed as an SCPO prosecutor, but three days later he withdrew his request, the SACP recalled.

Geshev leads a nationalist platform named the Civic Bloc. Journalists see an attempt on the part of the former chief of the prosecution service to start a political career.