Bulgaria: Post of Ad-Hoc Prosecutor Finally Approved by Parliament

Today, after an anemic debate, the National Assembly has finally approved creating a new position in the judiciary – that of an ad-hoc prosecutor who will have power to investigate the prosecutor general.

It is envisioned that this prosecutor will have a 7-year term, be nominated by not less than six members of the Plenum of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and will be elected by a simple majority. It is noted that the position of a prosecutor engaged only in probes and investigations against the prosecutor general will guarantee that citizens or competent institutions will be able to approach him directly and he will not be dependent on information coming from the operative prosecutors or investigative bodies.

The Plenum of the SJC will fix the date of the interview, which will be public and it is provided that the NGOs will be able to present their stands.

We remind that at the end of 2019, the Council of Ministers proposed the creation of the so-called " independent prosecutor” in response to the recommendations of the Venice Commission.

The then Minister of Justice, Daniel Kirilov, clarified that the law amending and complementing the Criminal Procedure Code and amendments to the Judiciary Act were adopted to meet the requirements and the proposal was in line with the opinion of the Venice Commission. Despite this explanation concerning the bill, the Venice Commission subsequently took a negative stand again.

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