site.btaJudge Vladislava Tsarigradska to Supreme Judicial Council: "Judges Are in Helpless Situation"

"We judges are put in a helpless situation", said Judge Vladislava Tsarigradska on Tuesday during her hearing by the Supreme Judicial Council about the progress of the criminal proceedings related to threats against her. She added that the Sofia City Prosecution Office has fragmented the investigation of a large-scale criminal group.

She stressed that the issue should be resolved in a collegial manner, as the whole reputation of the judicial independence suffers.

She added that she has been denied access to basic information on the case and expressed concern over what the prosecution service are doing.

"I have been threatened, and I believe there are people and networks behind the Red Pirate who are threatening a number of judges. We may suspect that these networks are trying to influence judges," Tsarigradska added.

In March 2024 police arrested a man for sending emails with life threats to several magistrates, signing them as "Red Pirate". After his arrest, the man made full confession.

Judge Tsarigradska recalled that it was through an intermediary that she received a call to "chill out", and then direct threats began. "Because of the failure to take measures after threats against magistrates, self-censorship appeared," Tsarigradska said.

She suspects that she is being wiretapped and called for an analysis of how the information obtained via special surveillance means is being used.

The magistrate called for an answer from the prosecuting magistracy as to who had issued the wiretapping permits, what means were used and for what purpose. 

"I will not let things be squashed. Through what they are doing to me, they are attacking every Bulgarian judge," she said. 

Several times Judge Daniela Taleva, who investigates the Prosecutor General, has also been threatened by the Red Pirate, Tsarigradska said. 

Tsarigradska became a household name after blowing the whistle about pressure being put on herself and other magistrates. Talk of that pressure flared up in the wake of the execution-style killing of Martin Bozhanov, who has been exposed as a major "fixer of people's problems with the judiciary". 

She believes that the Directorate General for Combatting Organized Crime cannot investigate the case in an objective manner and said there are multiple publications in the news media about close connections between former Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov with the group of Martin Bozhanov.

She also said that the security detail has been removed from outside her home in Pleven without prior notice and the prosecutor in her case has told her to seek his permission before she speaks about the investigation. "He can sue me but I don't intend to do as he tells me because their purpose is to shut me up," the judge said.

She also said, "If I cannot protect my children and my loved ones from these criminal networks, I have no way of convincing people whose cases have been entrusted to me, that there is justice."

After the hearing, Judge Atanaska Disheva said that the Judges College must demand information from the prosecution service about the progress of investigation of Tsarigradska's case. "The matter concerns the whole system in which many judges have been threatened. The effect of that is that judges start to keep a low profile, become silent or recuse themselves from cases," she said.

After one-and-a-half hours of hearing, the Judges College decided to demand information from the prosecution service. The decision passed in an anonymous vote.