Member of Bulgaria's Supreme Judicial Council Faces Disciplinary Proceedings

Kamen Sitnilski, VSS member and former Deputy Chief Prosecutor, photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's Supreme Judicial Council (VSS) has initiated disciplinary proceedings against VSS member and former Deputy Chief Prosecutor Kamen Sitnilski.

The motion was backed by 20 VSS members, with 4 abstentions.

The proceedings were opened on the proposal of the VSS Ethics Committee on the basis of leaked wiretaps of conversations between Sitnilski, Rumen Boev, VSS member, and other magistrates, during which they agreed how they would vote at the delegate assembly convened in the autumn of 2012 to elect VSS members from the prosecutors' quota.

The controversial recordings were published in end-June, according to reports of dnevnik.bg.

The disciplinary committee tasked with deciding on Sitnilski's case consists of VSS members Galya Georgieva, Vasil Petrov, and Magdalena Lazarova.

VSS is also to decide whether it will launch disciplinary proceedings against Ivan Vanchev, District Prosecutor of Haskovo, and Emil Hristov, Burgas Appellate Prosecutor, in connection with the scandal.

One week ago, the VSS Ethics Committee issued a statement informing that Sitnilski, Vanchev and Hristov had breached the Code of Ethics of Bulgarian magistrates.

Both Vanchev and Hristov have been temporarily removed from office at the proposal of Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov.

Sitnilski can only be imposed a penalty of disciplinary dismissal, which must be backed by a qualified 2/3 majority of VSS members, or be cleared of the charges.

On July 3, Bulgaria's Supreme Prosecutor's Office of Cassation announced that the leaked wiretaps had been obtained through special surveillance equipment deployed at the request of the former Chief Directorate "Combating Organized Crime" (GDBOP) of the Interior Ministry.

The transcripts of the conversations were sent to the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office by GDOP on April 19, 2013, in connection with pre-trial proceedings opened by the prosecuting authority.

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