site.btaSupreme Judicial Council Decides to Resume Procedure for Election of New Prosecutor General

The Plenum of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) Thursday decided to resume the procedure for election of a new prosecutor general on a proposal of the Prosecutors Chamber. On September 9, the Prosecutors Chamber approved a timeline whereby a new prosecutor general will be elected on January 16, 2025.

On September 5, Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) urged the Prosecutors Chamber not to resume the procedure, arguing that an SJC with an expired term has no democratic legitimacy to elect a new prosecutor general for the next seven years. On August 1, CC-DB submitted a bill under which an SJC with an expired term cannot elect a prosecutor general, a president of the Supreme Administrative Court or a president of the Supreme Court of Cassation.

Borislav Sarafov has been acting Prosecutor General since June 2023 after Ivan Geshev was dismissed by the SJC for damaging the prestige of the judiciary. Sarafov was Geshev's deputy until then.

According to the proposed timeline, the Prosecutors Chamber will be meeting on September 19 and 23, and October 3 and 10 regarding the nominations.

By October 24, the candidates should present their concepts. The Supreme Judicial Council is required to make the concepts public by October 19.

Two Prosecutors Chamber commissions have until November 26 to adopt reports on the professional and personal qualities of the candidates, so as to be able to discuss them at a meeting of the entire college the next day.

On December 5, the SJC Plenum will set a time and date for hearing the candidates. The deadline for submitting opinions and questions to the candidates is January 8, 2025.

January 16, 2025 is the day for hearing the candidates and voting to elect the new Prosecutor General.