Bulgaria Supreme Magistrates Decide on Senior Resignations

Bulgaria’s Supreme Judicial Council is suspected of giving in to pressure from the executive power. File photo

Bulgarian Supreme Judicial Council (VSS) is going to decide on the resignations of Kapka Kostova and Galina Zaharova.

The two submitted their resignations as VSS members on Wednesday, both asking to be reinstated at their previous positions as judges at the Supreme Court of Cassations and Sofia Appellate Court, respectively.

With the move, Kostova and Zaharova joined two other senior judges in resigning in protest against controversial judiciary appointments.

The Deputy Chair of the Sofia City Court, Velichka Tsanova, resigned on June 7. A judge with extensive experience, she was temporarily in charge of the Court, and was among the candidates to become its permanent head, receiving written support from a number of judges.

At the end of May, however, VSS selected Vladimira Yaneva for the post. Yaneva, who has eight years of experience, four of them on maternity leave, admitted a little bit later, she is close to the family of Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov.

The admission triggered the first resignation - of Dushana Zdravkova, a judge at the Regional Court in the Black Sea capital Varna and former Member of the European Parliament from the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, GERB, party.

Zdravkova, in a written statement, said one of the reasons for her decision was precisely Yaneva's election.

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