Justice minister Naydenov wants a choice of candidates for acting prosecutor general
The minister will not nominate anyone himself but urges the judicial council to offer a real choice by October 22. Two Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's Office department heads have agreed to run.
Archive image · Photo: Bin im Garten / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped and resized)
Bulgarian Justice Minister Nikolay Naydenov has written to the Prosecutorial College of the Supreme Judicial Council, asking it to give the plenum a real choice between candidates with clear positions and a vision for the next six months. The deadline is October 22, when the current acting prosecutor general's term expires. He wants the field widened, seniority not to be decisive and candidates to be heard.
Naydenov will not use his own right to nominate because a procedure to elect new council members is under way, saying he wants to avoid any suspicion of executive interference in the judiciary. According to the prosecution service, two department heads at the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's Office have agreed to take the post for six months. On October 7, the college proposed Deputy Prosecutor General Magdalena Lazarova-Prodanova as next in seniority.
Naydenov noted that the prosecution service has effectively been run by acting chiefs since June 2023, although the law allows this only as an exception. He expects "real steps to restore trust in the institution" soon after the vote, including on problems at the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office. Past elections with a single candidate did not end well for the prosecution service, he said.