Bulgarian Specialized Court, Prosecutor's Office Postponed over Inexperienced Staff

Chief Prosecutor Boris Velchev has qualified the candidates for posts at the specialized court and prosecutor`s office as "smart and ambitious but totally unprepared". Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

Bulgaria's specialized court and prosecutor's office, which were supposed to facilitate the fight against organized crime, will not go into operation in August 2011 as previously planned.

In a surprising move, ruling party GERB proposed Thursday that the launch of the judicial bodies be postponed for January 2012, citing "the need to ensure the normal functioning of the specialized structures", according to a report of Sega daily.

The specialized court and prosecutor's office were set up despite the protests of civil rights' organizations and the parliamentary opposition and amid fears that the new units constitute extraordinary judicial bodies.

The postponement was first requested by Chief Prosecutor Boris Velchev, who demanded more time for the training of the magistrates. He also advised GERB to reduce the list of offences to be tackled by the new court and prosecutor's office in order to avoid a work overload resulting in even bigger delays of high-profile cases. Velchev's call, supported by the Supreme Judicial Council (VSS), failed to resonate with the government.

According to a statement of the Venice Commission, "the selection of candidates, their nomination and the required qualifications will be decisive for qualifying the court as a specialized or an extraordinary body". At the same time, the last report of the European Commission termed the creation of the new structures a manifestation of political will to eliminate crime.

It emerged Thursday that the main problem of the specialized court was the inexperienced magistrates pending appointment there. "They are smart and ambitious but totally unprepared", Velchev commented on the candidates. The two instances of the specialized court and prosecutor's office will have a total of 134 employees, 53 of them being magistrates. However, the candidates for these posts are too few, with most of them coming from regional courts and prosecutor's offices, where minimum experience requirements are applied and organized crime cases hardly ever appear.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!