NEWS

President: If Not Eliminated, the Networks of Influence in the Judiciary Will Corrupt Every Reform and Distort Every Law

Impunity at the top levels of power destroys the very idea of justice, says the Head of State at the opening of a discussion on the judicial system

The process of reforms in the Bulgarian judicial system must continue, but without repeating previous mistakes, because the criminalisation of part of the political class in our country, coupled with the inaction of the prosecutor's office, is incompatible with the constitutional model of our governance. This was stated by President Rumen Radev at the opening of a discussion on the topic "Where to next with the judiciary?" in which representatives of the judiciary, professional organisations of magistrates, the academic community, and the civil sector participated. The forum is organised by the Bulgarian Institute for Legal Initiatives.

In his speech, the Head of State pointed out that the in-depth debate on judicial reform causes hysteria among those who feel comfortable with the status quo in the judicial system and for whom the networks of Martin Bozhanov aka The Notary, the cosy atmosphere in “The Eight Dwarfs" restaurant, the sticky timelessness surrounding the KTB Bank case, and selective justice are vital guarantees for benefiting and impunity. The President added that the topic of the state of the judicial system is painful, but a thorough and sincere debate is necessary. According to Rumen Radev, although the issues of justice seem to have lost political and public attention after the cancellation of the latest constitutional changes, their importance is fundamental for citizens and the state and continues to concern Bulgarians and foreign investors.

The Head of State recalled the consultations organised in the presidential institution with representatives of other institutions and experts on the need for changes in the judiciary, which showed that the solution must be comprehensive and based on an overall vision not only for constitutional change but also for legislative amendments that are in sync. Unfortunately, due to the specific dynamics in our internal political life, this debate could not unfold fully, and the constitutional changes themselves went in a completely different direction, which diluted this energy for change, Radev added.

The President criticised the way the amendments to the Bulgarian basic law were made in the 49th National Assembly, as for their authors, the change of the national holiday and the powers of the Head of State turned out to be more important than the in-depth expert and parliamentary debate. Simultaneously, the timeframe of the complex constitutional amendment process was subordinated to secret internal coalition agreements and its acceleration degraded the constitution. The reformist momentum was thwarted, including by the reformers themselves, who turned out to have more important priorities than the long-awaited judicial reform that had paved the way to power for several generations of politicians, Radev added. Regarding the annulled changes by the Constitutional Court of the 49th National Assembly in the part concerning the judiciary, the President stated that this decision of the Constitutional Court does not absolve politicians and the relevant bodies from the responsibility to develop and implement a comprehensive reform for the Supreme Judicial Council and the Inspectorate to the Supreme Judicial Council, so that they correspond to the established European principles that guarantee the independence of the courts and the accountability of the state prosecution.

The Head of State called on experts and professional circles, as well as institutions, including the National Assembly and the government, for convincing actions against political and oligarchic influences in the judiciary, which should be undertaken based on the already considerable data available. Because, according to the President, in addition to the unsuccessful changes in the Constitution, citizens' trust in the judicial system is also being eroded due to impunity in the judicial system. As an example, Rumen Radev cited the high-profile scandals involving Martin "Notary" Bojanov and the "Eight Dwarfs" and the cynical trade in justice that they represent. These scandals are fading into oblivion, adding to the already long list of "gates" that over the years have provoked public outrage, commissions of inquiry and investigations, but have yet to receive an adequate institutional response. This is a brutal demonstration of impunity and induced helplessness, the President said and added: Consequently, today, when we ask ourselves the question "Where to next?", we must be clear that trying to achieve our goal of an effective rule of law state, without fully illuminating these cases and the people behind them, is like chasing the horizon.

The President called on the newly formed parliament and government, as well as the upcoming personnel appointments in the judiciary, to take serious actions to shed light on the networks of influence. From now on, we must judge their actions and effectiveness precisely by the results they achieve in fulfilling this very important task, added the Head of State and emphasised that if the networks of influence continue to exist, they have the ability to corrupt every reform, distort every law, and penetrate through any quotas. Regarding the recently announced priority of the Ministry of Justice to solve the problem of slow justice, Rumen Radev pointed out that if the system is subject to unregulated influence, it is impossible to achieve the only legitimate goal of any reform – fast and fair justice.

In his speech, the President pointed out that the political debate on the judicial system usually focuses on the prosecutor's office and the personality of the chief prosecutor, as there are two main reasons for this – the interference of the prosecutor's office in political life and the core function of the prosecutor's office, which is to ensure that the law is upheld. There are numerous examples from the years of the Transition of how the prosecutor's office influenced the development of important political events, Radev said and gave an example with the deliberate leaking of documents and wiretaps from ongoing investigations to selected media, as well as the detention of people for months and even years, without the charges reaching the judicial phase. While in established democracies the formation of the government is a function of parliamentary majorities, in our country parliamentary majorities sometimes turn out to be a function of decisions about the chief prosecutor or decisions of the chief prosecutor, Radev stressed and pointed out that it is urgent to find a way to end this anomaly.

Regarding the real function of the prosecutor's office, the Head of State noted the lack of effective investigations, of the establishment of guilt, and the punishment of signals for crimes at the "high levels" of power over the past 30 years. At the same time, despite the abundance of data on corruption at the highest levels of power, there is a growing body of evidence, including from the European Commission's annual reports, on the lack of accusations of corruption at the highest levels of power. Meanwhile, the annual reports in our country on the activities of the prosecutor's office and investigative bodies report over 95% sanctioned among those brought to court. It is precisely this huge difference between impunity for the authorities and high success rates in accusations outside the authorities that reinforces the feeling among Bulgarians of double standards that destroy the very idea of justice, Radev said.

President also noted the "questionable effectiveness" in the criminal policy conducted  regarding so-called ordinary but extremely important crimes for citizens – driving under the influence of alcohol, drug distribution, domestic violence, and violence of any kind, pointing out that the main response of institutions over the years has been legislative amendments to increase penalties or introduce new criminal offenses. There is generally a legislative enthusiasm, aptly called "penal populism," which does not alleviate the situation of the victims because it does not in itself present better conditions for protection. Moreover, when effective investigations are not conducted and some people are selectively accused while others are not, the size of the penalties becomes secondary, the President said and called for legislative changes to take into account the opinions of experts, judicial bodies, and law enforcement agencies.

President Radev also drew attention to the problem of expired mandates in the justice system. The inaction of the Parliament, especially regarding appointments in the judiciary, has very serious consequences. It has long been necessary, and especially after the entry into force of the latest changes in the Law on the Judiciary it is urgent – both the National Assembly and the judiciary must proceed with the renewal of the personnel composition of these bodies, especially the Supreme Judicial Council, the Head of State said and added that the difficulty in achieving a qualified majority in the National Assembly can no longer be an excuse. The President also emphasised that due to this situation, there has been an acting chief prosecutor for a year and a half, and for 3 months – there has been an acting chairman of the Supreme Administrative Court, without being appointed by presidential decree.