site.btaCourt Independence Is Groundwork for Rule of Law - Supreme Court President

Court independence is the groundwork of the rule of law, Supreme Court of Cassation President Galina Zaharova said here Tuesday. She was speaking at a discussion, titled Where to Next with the Judicial System? and organized by the Bulgarian Institute for Legal Initiatives with the participation of members of the judiciary, MPs and experts.

She said, "The goal of the judicial reform is an effective and fair justice. The key words that everyone wants to hear from us are 'transparency', 'professional skills', 'knowledge of the law', 'predictability', 'legal security', 'speed', 'efficiency', and 'equality before the law'. All of these are achievable goals, even at present, through reasonable individual measures. [...] Justice is carried out by people for the people. None of these goals can be achieved without an independent and impartial court."

She argued that an inexperienced judge can be trained, a slow judge can be disciplined, but if a judge is susceptible to pressure or temptation, there can be no justice.