Sofia Court Head Falls Ill Ahead of Conflict-of-Interest Hearing

VSS member Sfetan Petrov has confirmed that SCC Chair Vladimira Yaneva`s hearing has been postponed until her full medical recovery. Photo by BGNES

The conflict-of-interest hearing of Vladimira Yaneva, Chair of the Sofia City Court (SCC), has been postponed due to her hospitalization.

According to Stefan Petrov, member of the Bulgarian Supreme Judicial Council (VSS), Yaneva has been admitted to hospital and is in a poor medical condition.

Petrov, who is also Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission at VSS that is responsible for Yaneva's hearing in connection with the violations in the Sofiyski Imoti case confirmed that Yaneva had been hospitalized on Friday and on Monday VSS had received a document certifying that she was in treatment.

"SCC's Chair will be heard when her medical condition allows", Petrov stated.

Last week, the VSS Inspectorate found four violations in the high-profile case against the former director of the municipal real estate firm Sofiyski Imoti presided by Yaneva.

At the VSS session last Thursday, however, the judicial body did not review the alleged breaches but postponed the discussion, arguing that it needs the data for the entire Penal College of the SCC to decide on the case.

The VSS Inspectorate has not proposed a concrete penalty for Yaneva, which may happen after the report is submitted to VSS. 

Last week, Yaneva said that she would not resign or self-withdraw from the Sofiyski Imoti case, which prompted widely publicized conflict-of-interest accusations.

The current SCC head was found to have bought properties from Sofiyski Imoti as a proxy of a company owned by her father, thereby violating the ban on commercial activities for magistrates.

In a Sunday interview for bTV, Justice Minister Margarita Popova expressed her firm belief that Yaneva's appointment had been legally obtained but said she would have filed her resignation if she had been in Yaneva's place.

Earlier Monday, Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov insisted that Yaneva had been appointed through an "unblemished" procedure.

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