site.btaMedia Review: October 10

The news that acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov was nominated for election to the post of prosecutor general as the only candidate at the last of four meetings of the Plenum of the Supreme Judicial Council dominate the media on Thursday. Sarafov was nominated by three members of the Prosecutors Chamber: Stefan Petrov, Plamen Naydenov and Svetlana Boshnakova.

On September 5, Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) urged the Prosecutors Chamber not to resume the procedure for electing the new prosecutor general, arguing that an SJC with an expired term has no democratic legitimacy to elect a new prosecutor general for the next seven years.

Mediapool quotes caretaker Justice Minister Maria Pavlova as saying that she does not think that there is a problem that the SJC with an expired mandate will vote on Sarafov's candidacy, because there is already a decision of the Constitutional Court regarding the issue.

On Nova News’s morning show, legal expert Ivan Bregov, lawyer Emil Georgiev and constitutional law professor Orlin Kolev commented on the validity and legitimacy of Sarafov's candidacy. "It is a well-established tradition - someone is put to hold an office, their loyalty is tested and, if they prove to fit the mould to the satisfaction of the economically and politically powerful, they are elected,” said Bregov. He added that there is a model established in the judiciary, which "cannot be hindered in any way at this stage". Georgiev also said that Sarafov proved his loyalty to the ones in power and that secured him the nomination. Orlin Kolev pointed out that the procedure has been legal so far. "To what extent it is moral and legitimate for the SJC to conduct it is a separate issue," he said.

On Nova Television’s morning show, Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria’s candidate for MP Atanas Slavov defined Sarafov’s nomination as “doomed”. “His election would delegitimize the system, would charge him with negative energies and the very next day someone would ask for his resignation,” he argued.

In an interview with the Bulgarian National Radio, Bulgarian Helsinki Committee Co-chair Adela Kachaunova said that judicial reform has been used politically. "It has been placed entirely in a subordinate position to political power. We are seeing the absolute erosion of this judiciary, which is failing to break away and at least appear independent. As long as Borislav Sarafov is acting Prosecutor General, he is highly vulnerable and dependent. This serves particular interests," she added.

MRF RIFT

Mediapool has an article on the case against MP Dzheyhan Ibryamov, who was arrested on October 2 in Sofia for vote-buying. The media outlet quotes the testimony of the main witness in the case, Miroslav Todorov, who said Movement for Rights and Freedoms Honorary Leader Ahmed Dogan intended to kill one of the party's two chairpersons Delyan Peevski. His words have nothing to do with the subject of the investigation, but are nevertheless pointed to as an argument that Ibryamov should remain in custody, the article reads. The first remand hearing against Ibryamov was held behind closed doors. Mediapool has learned from unnamed sources that during the trial the prosecutor, in an attempt to argue why Ibryamov should remain in custody permanently, chose three quotes from the testimony of the main witness. One of them is the following:

"I would like to point out that during the same meeting Ibryamov mentioned to me that Ahmed Dogan had told him that it was not going to be like this and that later they would kill the boy, referring to Delyan Peevski. He said that they had talked about possibly shooting him and showed me with his fingers the shape of a gun, but first they needed to find the money for that."

This is not the first case in which the prosecution service has spoken about an assassination attempt against the politician sanctioned for corruption under the Magnitsky Act by the US and the UK, Mediapool notes. In 2014, a case was opened against three people on suspicion of planning such a crime. They were arrested, but it was quickly realized that there was absolutely no evidence against them.

ECONOMY

bTV reported that farmers will receive the funds amounting to BGN 200 million under the state aid schemes to support the liquidity of farmers, producers of cereals and oilseeds to overcome the negative economic impact of Russian aggression against Ukraine. A notification has been sent to the European Commission for the entire amount of BGN 325 million. This came after grain growers, fruit and vegetable producers, sheep breeders and other farmers gave the Government an ultimatum: if they do not receive a guarantee for payment in full under those state aid schemes, they will go on a national protest.

***

In an interview on Nova Television’s morning show, Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association Chairman Vasil Velev forecasted the budget deficit to be around BGN 18 billion - 9% of the GDP. "There is no investment. We take loans and spend them on salaries, pensions and maintenance of the administration," he warned. He also pointed out that the number of employees in state administration is a heavy burden to the State Budget. "The population is declining and the number of state officials who have to serve it is growing", he claimed. The BICA chairman stressed that Bulgaria is the country with the largest share of the gross domestic product for security in the entire European Union.

***

Telegraph writes that almost every second pensioner in the country is at risk of poverty and social exclusion. The daily quotes a European Commission report on the adequacy of pensions. The latest figures are for 2022. They show that 45.5% of people aged 65 and over in Bulgaria are at risk of poverty. The indicator improved slightly on the previous year, 2021, when this proportion of adults on the edge of poverty was 45.7%. Only in Estonia has worse figures - 53.1%. Bulgarian pensioners take the shortest pension period in the whole EU, together with those in Latvia. In both countries, people over 65 can enjoy their pension for an average of only 17.5 years.

CRIME

24 Chasa's lead story reveals a new mechanism for involving children in organized begging in Sofia, where minors involve their peers in illegal activity. A check by the media outlet shows that there are almost no reports of children in Sofia being forced to participate in organized begging, but even if there are, they do not admit to being victims. "There is loyalty to those they work for because they accept them as the people who care for them, or they fears for their life," explains psychotherapist Iglika Kristeva. There have been a number of cases of criminal groups arrested abroad forcing men and women to beg. NGO statistics also record newborn babies as victims involved in the scheme. "They are also listed in the records with an age of zero, which means this - when you see a pregnant mother begging for money, the child is already part of the apparatus for acquiring money," Kristeva says. 

HEALTH

On bgonair’s morning show, Radostina Aleksandrova, a virologist at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, said that more than 2,000 people die after flu epidemic per year. „The influenza vaccine provides 50% protection on average. It is better to have this protection, it reduces the risk of severe illness, hospitalization, complications,“ she added. The virologist also explained how people can tell if they have the flu or COVID-19: "The flu hits us suddenly, with COVID-19 it happens within 2-3 days. With the flu we have specific muscle and joint pains, whereas with COVID-19 there are many cases that can go asymptomatically.

***

In an interview with Trud, epidemiologist Prof. Todor Kantardzhiev said that one in four flu patients develop complications. Taking an antibiotic for viral infections is incorrect, he argued and added that antibiotic should be taken only for complications. “About 10-15% develop so-called bacterial pneumonia acquired in the community. This is a disease caused by bacteria, a proportion of which are intracellular and are treated with antibiotics,” Kantardzhiev said.

***

The new vaccines against the JN.1 subvariant of COVID-19 have been used to vaccinate 11,983 people, the Ministry of Health press service told BTA. According to data from https://plusmen.bg/ created on the initiative of the Ministry of Health, 3,264 people got vaccinated in the first two weeks of the campaign, which began in early September.

***

The Bulgarian National Television reported that for the first time in Bulgaria, an 11-year-old girl will be able to move her shoulder and arm again thanks to a unique surgery that removed a tumour and fitted an individual 3D prosthesis. A team of leading orthopaedic surgeons removed the malignant tumour by total resection (removal) of the right scapula and the upper end of the right humerus of the patient in the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology of the University Hospital Eurohospital Plovdiv. The surgeons replaced the removed scapula and humerus with a 3D-printed endoprosthesis with double-hinged articulation for the shoulder, designed specifically for the girl. The prosthesis is made of titanium with diamond coating and is wrapped with a textile tube. The operation lasted 4 hours.

BULGARIANS IN LEBANON

The Bulgarian National Radio reported that Bulgarian citizens left Lebanon on board of Turkish military vessels, quoting Associated Press and Anadolu Agency.