October 22 (BTA) – After almost 4 hours of discussions, the plenum of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) terminated without result the debate on the demand of the Bulgarian Judges Association (BJA) to initiate a dismissal procedure against Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev. The debate was sparked by the BJA’s request that Geshev be evaluated individually by all members of the SJC. The request was accompanied by a letter, listing in detail “publicly known” facts about Geshev, and concluding that the procedure of his dismissal from the position must be initiated. While the SJC plenum was taking place, a group of Yes, Bulgaria activists and citizens were rallying for Geshev’s resignation in front of the building. At the start of the meeting, Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev declared that it was not clear on what grounds the plenum is considering a declaration by a professional organization. He said that he has already answered all the questions asked by the BJA for the European Parliament’s LIBE committee, and will not answer them again for the SJC. Geshev said that he will not discuss the topic, nor participate in a confrontation between judges and prosecutors, and left the plenum. Some of the critique of the BJA’s demand was that their letter contains suggestions, lacks concrete information about the Prosecutor General’s violations, and falsely ascribes an interview quote to him. After 3 hours of debates on the topic, the SJC defended Geshev, 19 to 3, and adopted the BJA’s demand for reference only. NV/MT
(DF) Judicial Council Ends Debate on Judges Association’s Demand to Dismiss Prosecitor General
