site.btaContinue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria Lambasts Nomination of Borislav Sarafov for Bulgaria's Top Prosecutor

Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) Thursday lambasted the nomination of Borislav Sarafov, who is currently acting Prosecutor General, for a full tenure as Bulgaria's top prosecutor. They argue that the term in office of the Supreme Judicial Council, which made the nomination, has long expired and it lacks "democratic legitimacy and public trust".

Sarafov is the only nominee for the post.

CC-DB call the decision "utterly unacceptable". "The selection of the prosecutor general must be carried out in a way that ensures public confidence, and not lead to its further erosion."

They announced they are collecting signatures in support of a petition to the Constitutional Court asking it to interpret paragraph 23 of the Constitution, which prohibits the current SJC from electing the Prosecutor General and the Presidents of the SAC and SCC in the context of repealed texts of the judicial reform and the current provisions of the Judiciary Act.

"We will urge the new 51st National Assembly to adopt the bill amending and supplementing the Judiciary Act proposed by us in the 50th National Assembly, according to which a SJC with an expired term of office cannot elect the Prosecutor General, the President of the Supreme Administrative Court and the President of the Supreme Court of Cassation," says CC-DB.

They insist on the election of a new SJC by a procedure that ensures that its council members are politically neutral and possess high professional and moral qualities.

Sarafov's nomination also drew the ire of the Anti-Corruption Fund (ACF). It was an ACF investigation widely known as the "Eight Dwarfs" that exposed a network for trade in influence in the judiciary and where Sarafov's name appeared. "Since 2020, when the ACF published its "Eight Dwarfs" investigation, numerous testimonies and evidence of close ties between Borislav Sarafov (then deputy prosecutor general and director of the National Investigative Service) and the leader of the network for informal influence in the judiciary, Petyo "the Euro" Petrov, have been made public," ACF said in a statement Thursday.

The ACF pointed out that Borislav Sarafov is still under investigation by the Special Prosecutor for the Investigation of the Prosecutor General and his deputies regarding the evidence of his links to the Eight Dwarfs affair. "His nomination while this probe is pending is undignified and shameful.  Last summer, Borislav Sarafov claimed that the clarification of the Eight Dwarfs affair was a "key stake" for the future normal functioning of the prosecution. With the nomination of Sarafov, it is clear that the normal functioning of the prosecution service is delayed for at least another five years," the statement goes.