Bulgarian Judge Outraged by Angry Statements of PM, Interior Minsiter

The Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov (L) and the PM Boyko Borisov (R) have voiced anger at what they saw as incompetent and injurious behavior on the part of the Bulgarian judiciary. Photo by BGNES

A judge from the Court of Appeals has stated that Bulgaria's PM and the interior minister are manipulating the society with their statements on the rulings on the cases “Killers” and “All Trumps”.

“The problem is how the PM and the interior minister, as representatives of the executive authorities in the country, reacted to the court's decision,” the magistrate Kalin Kalpakchiev said Wednesday.

His words came as a comment on Tuesday's angry statements by the Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov and Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov on the court's decision to release the suspects from the high-profile cases “the Killers” and “All Trumps”.

“The problem is that conclusions come from executive authorities in the process of investigation. In this way they manipulate the society and get in the way of the investigation. All this shows that there is a problem with democracy because the court should be the one to decide whether someone is guilty or not,” Kalpakchiev said.

He has also pointed out that the decision of the Court of Appeals is finals and that the grounds for the ruling will be published Wednesday, so that “the society can read them and understand why the demand of the Prosecution's Office for permanent arrests of the detained could not be fulfilled.”

Kalpakchiev has also explained that the Prosecution's Office is submitting the demand , while the police is providing arguments for arrest.

“Apparently the prosecutors have decided that the detained during these two operations should be kept under arrest. However, we cannot understand whether they are happy with the court's ruling or not. The only ones we can hear are the representatives of the Interior Ministry and the executive authorities,” he said.

After the court's ruling Tuesday, Interior minister Tsvetanov described the decisions as an "outrage" hurting the fundamental rights of Bulgarian citizens and depriving them of justice and the rule of law.

“The Bulgarian judiciary is incapable of effecting its own reform,“ added Borisov, as reported by the Bulgarian National Television.

Tsvetanov joined by declaring that the Parliament should stage a full-scale judicial reform.

Borisov stated that the Supreme Judicial Council – a body of magistrates overseeing the judiciary – is incompetent to organize an adequate judicial reform. He explained that the Council was appointed by and comprises representatives of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, and the National Movement for Stability and Prosperity – the tripartite coalition that ruled Bulgaria 2005-9 and that Borisov is fond of reviling.

The Bulgarian PM further said that the prosecution can still appeal the court's decision and will gather new evidence. He lashed out at what he saw as the court's failure to take in earnest manifest evidence presented for the incrimination of the accused individuals.

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