Vasilev: "Collapse of the entire justice system" and a call for constitutional changes

There is a collapse in the entire justice system, said the leader of the "We Continue the Change" (WCC) party, Asen Vasilev, at the opening of the public discussion "Fair Bulgaria". The initiative is organized by "We Continue the Change" as part of a series of events under the motto "Strong Bulgaria in a strong Europe".

According to Vasilev, citizens and businesses are increasingly feeling that "at any moment someone can take your business and there is no court where there is a fair trial and rules apply". According to him, the information that came out in the "Petrohan" case revealed the failure of the system in its attempt to counter such a serious crime as crimes against children.

Vasilev emphasized that for more than 12 months in the State Agency "National Security", the prosecutor's office and the General Directorate "Combating Organized Crime" practically nothing has happened in the case. This, according to him, creates a feeling that a person has no way to get justice, "unless he resorts to self-justice", which he defined as "very scary", because "this is the beginning of the end of a state".

He explained that the purpose of the discussion is "to show the ugly truth and to see how it can be corrected with real actions". The leader of WCC also called on the other political forces to organize similar discussions, so that when they enter parliament, there will be "some level of public consensus". "If such a level of consensus is missing, we will not achieve a rich, strong and fair Bulgaria", Vasilev said.

Vladislav Slavov from the Union of Lawyers in Bulgaria noted that it is already "uncomfortable" to use the phrase "judicial reform", but emphasized that everything starts from the Constitution. He recalled that the basic law has laid down a new model of the judiciary, including the establishment of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), two supreme courts and the possibility of three-instance proceedings.

Slavov pointed out that the National Assembly itself had been inactive for more than five years, after which the judiciary was forced to initiate constitutional amendments on its own. "We have a judiciary, very well funded, but ineffective and unfair justice", he said, adding that this generates a negative attitude of citizens towards the system. "We are not satisfied with the situation, our European partners either", he emphasized.

According to Slavov, it is necessary to create teams that, building on the accumulated experience, will formulate development principles, on the basis of which the relevant normative acts will be developed at the level of law or Constitution. He pointed out that no one pays attention to the investigating police officers, although they work on over 93% of the crimes in the country. In his opinion, the status quo should be restored, in which the Ministry of Interior falls within the scope of the powers of the military court and the military prosecutor's office.

The MP from "We Continue the Change" Lena Borislavova said that by 2034, over 865 billion euros will be directed to the mechanism for monitoring the criteria for the rule of law in the EU member states. She specified that the funds will be provided if there is progress and on the basis of the reports on the rule of law, prepared by the European Commission.

Yonko Grozev from the Center for Liberal Strategies pointed out that when public control is severely limited, "lack of accountability and responsibility" develops in the justice system, which leads to the "criminalization of the system". According to him, it cannot be expected that the process of increasing accountability and responsibility, as well as the willingness in the system itself to oppose the abuse of power, will change suddenly.

As one of the possible approaches, Grozev pointed out changes in the Constitution, but added that at the moment there are not enough serious efforts in this direction. He emphasized that another significant problem is the strong resistance of the professional communities in the system, who insist on self-governance.

According to him, elections for the composition of the Supreme Judicial Council are needed, which should be sufficiently public and transparent, as well as guarantees that they will be held "in the public interest, and not in private". Grozev also recalled the experience of other countries that have tried to solve similar problems, including through in-depth checks on the property status of candidates for members of the SJC and its inspection, as well as through an assessment of the honesty and integrity of these candidates.

The lawyer and member of the Ethics Commission of "We Continue the Change" Miroslav Mavrov commented that the problem in the judicial system is closely related to corruption. He expressed the opinion that there should be parliamentary control over the Commission for the seizure of illegally acquired property and that one representative from each parliamentary group, determined on a quota basis, should participate in this control body.

According to Mavrov, this body should be responsible for checking the income and expenses of all representatives of the judiciary, as well as their families. He also emphasized the need for strong public control, based on empirical data - to have public statistics on the number of signals submitted, on how many investigations have not been completed in time to bring charges, as well as on the number of cases that "have entered a dead end".

About 2,200 judges and approximately 1,400 prosecutors work in the judicial system, who are practically at the basis of "99% of what we are talking about", said Georgi Gaidarov from the Association of Free Lawyers. According to him, the problems in the system are due "to 95% to negligence and to 5% to corruption".

Gaidarov proposed that changes to the Law on the Judiciary should be made, noting that previous amendments to the legislation have practically "concreted" certain people in the judicial system. According to him, this prevents renewal and creates an environment in which problems are reproduced.

Judge Iva Pushkarova urged to make a clear distinction between corruption and mafia-type corruption. She explained that corruption is a phenomenon that is subject to management and which can be fought through various mechanisms. The corrupt official, unlike a member of the mafia, is strongly influenced by the environment in which he works and can be directed towards behavior based on honesty.

Pushkarova pointed out that the Italian experience shows how, in the presence of a certain level of mafia-ization, anti-corruption measures become counterproductive. According to her, there is a problem in Bulgaria with the mafia-ization of power, which leads to selective control and terror within the system itself.

She explained that the blow to the strategic bodies of power and to the trust between colleagues means "a stage of institutional freezing", which is already being observed. When an institution is captured, it stops complying with the requirements, stops holding elections when the staff is elected, interrupts communication with its units and stops applying the law.

Historical practice, according to Pushkarova, shows that with advanced mafia-ization, the final decisions are often either lustration or revolution. "This is a historical outcome that lies before us," she said. According to the judge, it is necessary that the election of the members of the Supreme Judicial Council and the Prosecutor General be based primarily on their honesty.

"The fight against the mafia is simple, but very difficult," she added, emphasizing that people with honesty who are not loyal to political parties should be elected.

Andrey Georgiev from the Union of Judges in Bulgaria proposed to strengthen the rights of those injured in the criminal process. Among his ideas were limiting the possibility of withdrawing investigations against the highest echelons of power and narrowing the functional powers of the Prosecutor General.

Associate Professor Hristo Hristev, a lecturer at the Faculty of Law of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", stated that "cardinal changes" are impossible without amending the Constitution or even convening a Grand National Assembly. He noted that there are parties that follow an "anti-democratic agenda".

According to him, the control of the court in the pre-trial phase should be carefully and expertly extended to the maximum possible. Efforts must be made to reconsider and overcome the "exclusive power of the prosecution to control the court". Hristev emphasized that the current mechanism for control over the Prosecutor General and his deputies does not work and that it is necessary to consider "how to change the circle" in this mechanism.

He emphasized that the country is not facing "ordinary corruption" and that the problems are not from yesterday. Hristev recalled that measures used in Italy had been applied, but they had given "ugly results".

According to him, it is probably necessary to consider creating a new law enforcement body, which will be built and staffed with "highly respected people". He pointed out that the competitions for initial appointment, as well as for career advancement in the system, suffer from serious defects - prior knowledge of the names of the favorites or the ranking of people with very high results, but with "average" grades during the studies.

Hristev added that there is a problem in the judicial system with "blatantly incompetent" judges, as well as with the way in which the attestation is carried out and career development is determined. According to him, it is these deficits that contribute to the inability of the judicial system to meet public expectations for justice.