site.btaBulgarian Judges Association President: Martin “Notary” Bozhanov’s Network Has Not Been Fully Unraveled

The Bulgarian Judges Association (BJA) asks the National Assembly to resume the work of the committee on the case of Martin Bozhanov aka The Notary in order to bring its work to an end, BTA learned from the head the organization, Tatiana Zhilova. Bozhanov was an alleged influence trader in the judiciary who was shot dead in Sofia in January.

It is necessary to broaden the scope of the probe by covering the activities of the "Eight Dwarfs" circle in order to illuminate in depth the dependencies in the judiciary and finally to start the healing process for the judiciary and the whole society, she said.

Now there is talk of the Notary, the Red Pirate [a man detained for threatening magistrates], the Eight Dwarfs [concerning company theft and trading in influence case, involving members of the judiciary in a Sofia restaurant of the same name]. Nothing is being done by the relevant institutions, they are merely waiting for the new scandal to cover the previous one. The result is that everybody is getting used to these perversions in the judicial system and falling into apathy. The biggest trouble is the uncritical judges and prosecutors, as well as the indifferent society. “I cannot imagine a European country being shaken by such scandals and society not reacting, a country where the institutions do nothing,” Zhilova said.

According to her, the scheme has not been fully revealed. “It is impossible to say whether the old scheme has ended, whether it has been modified or replaced by a new one. This can only be established through an honest investigation. Unless everything is revealed in depth and the scheme is brought into light, doubts will remain,” the BJA President told BTA.