site.btaUPDATED Lawyers Stage National Protest over Upcoming Election of Prosecutor General, Supreme Administrative Court President
Lawyers from different cities in Bulgaria held rallies in support of the rule of law in the country on Friday. Protests against the election of Prosecutor General and Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) President by the current Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) were held in Sofia, as well as in the regional centres of Plovdiv, Burgas, Ruse, Stara Zagora, Pernik, Vidin, and Smolyan.
The national protest, initiated by the country's bar associations on the occasion of October 25 - European Lawyers Day, was unanimously supported by the Supreme Bar Council.
On October 17, lawyers from all over Bulgaria have called for the termination of the procedures for the election of SAC President and Prosecutor General. The lawyers called on the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) to suspend the open procedure for the election of both the Prosecutor General and the SAC President until a new SJC is formed, in order to ensure that the newly elected SJC, within its mandate, can start a new procedure and make a legitimate choice of the most important bodies in the judiciary, allowing nominations of candidates from all bodies with the authority to do so. The lawyers also called on the only candidate for prosecutor general - acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov, to withdraw his nomination and his participation in a procedure which, according to the position, is "predetermined, lacking legitimacy and is about to finally destroy the institutional authority of the prosecution service of the Republic of Bulgaria, of the judiciary, and of the statehood as a whole".
In Sofia, lawyers gathered at a protest in front of the Palace of Justice. Sofia Bar Association Chair Stefan Marchev said that the lawyers are calling on this SJC with an expired mandate to terminate the procedures for the election of the Prosecutor General and SAC President. They also call on the National Assembly to take actions, as it has not elected its representatives to the SJC for two years now and is doing everything possible for the current composition of the SJC to function without public trust in its work. The lawyers are also calling on the judges to elect their new representatives to the SJC so that a new SJC can be formed to organize a lawful election procedure that everyone can trust, Marchev explained.
Attending the protest in Plovdiv, Plovdiv Bar Association Chair Georgi Baev told reporters that it is unacceptable to have a single prosecutor general candidate, and the person who is the only candidate [acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov] is not worthy of the post and does not have the moral qualities needed. Baev called for a normal procedure with more than one candidate.
Protesting in Ruse, lawyer Lidiya Peneva said: "I am here as a citizen in the first place and as a lawyer in the second place. I graduated from this specialty and became a lawyer with great desire and love for justice, and I consider it my moral duty to be here, to express my absolute disagreement with the nomination of Borislav Sarafov as Prosecutor General".
Lawyers from Burgas, Stara Zagora, Veliko Tarnovo, Pernik, Vidin, Smolyan, among others, were also adamant that they will not stand idly by while the legal system crumbles and they support their colleagues across the country.
/KK/
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