Bulgarian Interior Minister Urged to Stop Defending Embattled Sofia Court Head

UJB Spokesperson Nelly Kutskova has urged Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov to stop defending SCC Chair and "close family friend" Vladimira Yaneva. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov must stop defending Vladimira Yaneva, Chair of the Sofia City Court (SCC) because this is only doing her harm, said Nelly Kutskova Tuesday.

Yaneva was appointed head of the SCC amid controversy over her being a close family friend to Tsvetanov and her meager four years of experience as a judge. She is currently facing a conflict-of-interest probe against a backdrop of widespread calls for her resignation.

In an interview for bTV's morning broadcast, the Spokesperson of the Union of Judges in Bulgaria (UJB) said that the discontent of the guild with the Supreme Judicial Council (VSS) had grown to unprecedented proportions.

In her words, if Bulgarian judges had been lavishing praise on the GERB Cabinet, the Interior Minister would hardly have criticized them for being part of a political formation.

By saying this, Kutskova indirectly responded to the accusations of Tsvetanov of party affiliations due to her previous post of Deputy Justice Minister in the Philip Dimitrov Cabinet.

"When you can not respond to a cause you try to stage personal attacks against people", UJB's spokesperson stated.

She opposed the idea of removing the parliamentary quota from VSS, saying that the step would result in encapsulation and a reproduction of the defects of the judicial system.

In her opinion, an external quota in VSS is necessary but the members must have no strings attached.

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