site.btaGERB's Rosen Zhelyazkov: Supreme Judicial Council Functional Despite Expired Terms, Court Ruling Backs Ongoing Work

The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) remains fully functional and capable of making decisions despite its parliamentary quota members having expired terms, said GERB's Rosen Zhelyazkov in Blagoevgrad on Thursday.

He addressed acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov's controversial nomination for election to the post of Prosecutor General during the final meeting of the Plenum of the SJC, at which candidates could be nominated.

Zhelyazkov dismissed the argument from Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), who earlier on Thursday said that the SJC's term had expired long ago, making it inappropriate for them to elect Bulgaria's next Prosecutor General. 

Zhelyazkov pointed out that the SJC is just one of several regulatory and oversight bodies that have been functioning for years with incomplete and outdated memberships, even though their terms have expired. 

In these instances, the Constitutional Court issued a specific interpretative decision in 2022, emphasizing that maintaining the body's operations takes precedence because situations could arise where term limits might be used as a justification for ending or disrupting their responsibilities and obligations, Zhelyazkov said.