In a letter to the Supreme Judicial Council and the Minister of Justice 6 NGOs declared their support for the Bulgarian Judges Union’s request for thorough revisions of the random case assignment in the Supreme Administrative Court and of the case flow in the Prosecution’s offices against unknown offender – two issues which arose by the “Markovska” crisis. Last week BJU’s letter was included in the agenda for the SJC’s weekly session. The majority declined Kalin Kalpakchiev’s suggestion that a work group be assembled to consider the issues. Most of the Council’s members stated such revisions were not within SJC’s scope of activities. Some members mentioned it was more of a prerogative to the Inspectorate to conduct such a task. However, no decision in this regard was made.
The letter to the Supreme Judicial Council and the minister was signed by Bulgarian Institute for Legal Initiatives, Association for European Integration and Human Rights, Institute for Public Environment Development, Access to Information Program, Bulgarian Lawyers for Human Rights, and RiskMonitor Foundation. A copy of the letter was sent to the European Commission Representation in Bulgaria.
Bulgarian Judges Union sent thorough recommendations on the analysis of the performance of the SAC and the Prosecution’s office, to the Supreme Judicial Council. They suggested that the random case assignment and the panels formation in SAC be checked, as well as the pretrial practices within the Prosecution on cases against unknown offenders on information concerning the activity of judges, prosecutors, and investigators.