This was followed by the response of the Chairman of the Supreme Court of Cassation Lozan Panov who left today the sitting of the Supreme Judicial Council and pointed out that he did not want to be represented by Dimitar Uzunov until he showed a phone printout of the day when the SMS scandal erupted.

This case caused confusion in the country, yet it is only part of a number of unprecedented contradictions that occurred recently. In relation to the scandalous message the Bulgarian Judges Association sent a letter to the European Commission which alarms that the country’s executive power interferes in the activity of the judicial system and warns that the latest events in Bulgaria are to the detriment of the whole European Union. The Union of Bulgarian Jurists also voiced its concern with “the unpardonable and flagrant interference of Bulgaria’s Premier in the proceedings of the Supreme Judicial Council” and also insisted that the EC should get involved with that issue. The Bulgarian Lawyers for Human Rights non-governmental organization commented that the latest scandal laid out the dependence of some members of the judicial council from the country’s government. Justice for All civil initiative demanded the Supreme Judicial Council to defend urgently the supremacy of law and find out which member sent the disgraceful message to Premier Borissov and punish that member for undermining the prestige of the country’s judicial system. Meanwhile, in many Bulgarian cities citizens showed indignation with the inefficiency of the law-enforcement bodies.”

As a result, the Supreme Judicial Council is now divided into a majority and an opposition and in an interview for a Sofia newspaper, a member of the council says that SJC “turned into a puppet”. The tension between Bulgaria’s government and the judicial system, as well as the tension within the judicial system itself, has been lasting for a long time. However, it grew luxuriant several days before the annual report of the European Commission on Bulgaria’s progress in the judicial field and the internal order which will be released on January 27. The latest developments threaten the adoption of important amendments to the Judicial System Act, the Criminal Procedure Code and the Criminal Code and question the legitimacy of the participants in that process. It turned out that the country’s judicial reform was suspended before it even started.

At the end of the day, however, it may turn out that the proverb “Every cloud has a silver lining” may be applicable to this matter as well. It turns out that the professional organizations in Bulgaria’s judicial sphere do not want the judicial system to be reformed by discredited national institutions, since they urged the EC to interfere in that case. It seems that Bulgarian high-level representatives also lost hope that they can deal with the complicated situation on their own. Bulgaria’s officials also want the EC to interfere in the country’s judicial reform and recently the newly-appointed Minister of Justice Ekaterina Zaharieva told a Deputy-President of the European Commission that Bulgaria intended to invite experts from the EC and from the EU countries, which monitor the country’s judicial reform, to participate in the process.  

English version: Kostadin Atanasov