A panel of five senior judges has overturned a ruling that barred Burgas district judge Krasimira Doneva from the election of members of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) from the judges' quota. The Supreme Court of Cassation (SCC) said the panel has three SCC judges and two from the Supreme Administrative Court. The SJC's Judges' Panel had refused to let her run.
The Judges' Panel turned her down two weeks ago, after a report by SJC member Dragomir Koyadzhikov, who represents the Attestation and Competitions Committee. It said her nomination came in after the deadline.
The background: Burgas judge barred from running for Supreme Judicial Council seat
The ruling is final and cannot be appealed. The case goes back to the Judges' Panel, which must decide on the merits whether to admit Doneva, taking the court's reasons into account.
Doneva did not find her name on the list of candidates and contacted the SJC. There it became clear that her nomination had not reached the council's email inbox. She says she sent her papers on 4 September, within the deadline, and received no notice that the email was rejected.
The SJC's information technology department checked the case. It judged it unlikely that she received no such notice. The check also found that the platform had refused the papers of some candidates because the files were too large. They received a notice, contacted the council and managed to submit their nominations.
Doneva sent the papers again, but it is impossible to say for sure whether they match those from the failed attempt.
The senior judges said candidates cannot be blamed for limits on file size. The sides do not dispute that candidates were not properly told about these limits.
The court said that once a candidate sends an email, they have no control over what happens to it. They are not to blame if the email platform did not send a notice that a message was undelivered or rejected. For that reason, the judges said, the status of the electronic statement in the portal does not matter for when it was submitted.