As soon as it was proposed in the beginning of March it has become clearly known that the Minister of Justice Nadezhda Yordanova’s proposal for early termination of the General Attorney mandate is quite unreasonable. At least because of the fact that instead of legal arguments there are only political judgements, contradictory suggestions and subjective manipulations in the documentation sent to the Supreme Judicial Council.
A couple of days ago Ivan Geshev sent to the Supreme Judicial Council a detailed standpoint in which he did refute every single statement made by Hristo Ivanov’s right hand Nadezhda Yordanova. The main prosecutor’s analysis shows that the Minister of Justice’s request aims “a politically convenient exchange of a legally elected leader in the independent judiciary system”. That is the way the Attorney General reads the removal request made against him. Let us see the arguments Geshev states in his defense and through which he proves that Yordanova is only pursuing political goals using a procedure that is supposed to lay only on legal grounds.
One of the statements made by the Minister of Justice was about a post in Ivan Geshev’s Twitter account. It aimed to suggest that the main prosecutor had supported the arbitrariness of the police during the protests against the government in 2020. The General Attorney answers that such a statement can only be marked as insolvent because it is based only upon a “doubt”, as it is clearly said in minister Nadezhda Yordanova’s proposal.
“It is my strong belief that doubts, even if they belong to the minister of justice, are not a reasonable basis for anything. It is quite clear that when we talk about responsibility there cannot be a word spoken about personal suspicions and guesses but only about real actions”, Geshev writes. He comments Yordanova’s note that the Attorney General has not given any statistics about initiated pre-trial proceedings against protesting citizens to the former member of the parliament Nikolay Hadzhigenov. Ivan Geshev reminds the Minister of Justice that gathering personal data about citizens based on certain criteria is discriminatory and is at least violation of their rights.
Yordanova wants Geshev’s termination also because he has asked for lifting Elena Yoncheva’s parliamentary immunity in the European Parliament. That is quite odd because the request for lifting her immunity dates back to the time when head of the main prosecutor office was Sotir Tsatsarov. So what exactly could be Ivan Geshev’s responsibility here? That is a quite difficult question that Yordanova will have to answer during the debates in the Supreme Judicial Council.
It seems that the minister of justice has decided to act as a lawyer to the defendant millionaire family Evgeniya and Nikolay Banevi because she asks for Ivan Geshev’s resignation also because of the accusations against them that have become a reason for a quite odd conviction against Bulgaria from the European Court of Human Rights.
For about three months and a half, the time she has been a minister of justice, Yordanova must have understood that the institution she is a head of has a whole directorate responsible for the procedural representation of Bulgaria before the Strasbourg Court.
In this point of view, Nadezhda Yordanova could have educated herself that every conviction from the European Court of Human Rights is a country responsibility, not someone’s private one. Even if this one is “Yes Bulgaria” nightmare Ivan Geshev.
The main prosecutor uses the situation to inform the minister of justice – another one taking the position from the beginning of his mandate that he has even ordered all prosecutors and investigators to get to know the practice of the ECHR and keep strictly to it.
“It is impossible to show prejudice on an issue whose resolution is not within the competence of the particular magistrate, ie. when it is not him but another one who decides on its substance. " – that is how the Attorney General comments on the fourth ground of Yordanova’s will that is connected to the so called “journalist investigation” of the Anti-corruption Fund that has become known as the Eighth dwarves.
Geshev reminds the Minister of Justice that there are proceedings instituted in the case, as well as specific supervising prosecutors, including himself. He refutes Yordanova's insistence that he should be held responsible for something he has nothing to do with, either professionally or personally.
He refutes the arguments of the will regarding point nine in quite a similar way. The point is about the case of poisoning the weapon boss Emiliyan Gebrev. It appears that Yordanova has made a factual mistake and the case is in fact not closed as it is stated in her signal.
The claim of the Minister of Justice that the society has not received enough information on the case, Geshev refutes by applying all the press releases of the prosecution on the case, from which it can be clearly seen just the opposite – the prosecutor office informed the society in details about the course of the investigation. The question here is why the minister acts more like a lawyer of someone’s private interests and not as a state representative.
No matter the fact that SJC has accepted that it would not deal with matters stated in the minister request and which date back from the time period before Geshev has become Attorney General he clarifies the so called “Zhosi gate” case.
It is about the manipulation inflated by the professional protester Georgi Georgiev from "BOEC" that Ivan Geshev's father almost "took over" the dairy processing company of the same name. First of all Geshev’s father has never been listed in the Commercial Register as a partner in the company mentioned. And even if he has been listed it is quite unclear what Ivan Geshev’s personal and professional responsibility could be regarding a commercial conflict dating back from more than seven years. In which we see not the Attorney General’s name but his father’s one.
“The only thing that is true in the Minister of Justice’s proposal is the fact that Stoimen Geshev is my father”, the Attorney General says in his statement.
Another reason why Nadezhda Yordanova attacks Ivan Geshev is because two years ago he expressed his indignation of the fact that an expert report sent to SJC proves severe vulnerabilities of the random distribution case system. As a matter of fact Yordanova is in conflict of interests regarding that matter. At least because of the fact that she was head of the cabinet of the Minister of Justice Hristo Ivanov at that time – 2014-2015. During that period the case system was imposed almost by force to the judiciary.
Vassil Velichkov, the expert who imposed the compromised system, in 2015 was Rumyana Bachvarova’s – vice prime minister at the time, counsellor. Nowadays he is still a counsellor - this time Kalina Konstantinova’s. And as far as Geshev’s words are concerned – they are completely confirmed by the experts’ findings who audited the random distribution case system.
Another one of the Minister of Justice motives, through which she wants to early terminate the mandate of the Prosecutor General is quite interesting. It is regarding two books sent by Ivan Geshev to Bulgarian Helsinki Commettee. The books are written by the Patriarch of the Bulgarian literature Ivan Vazov and the great Yordan Yovkov.
Another Yordanova’s accusation against Geshev sounds totally absurd. It is connected to the fact that the main prosecutor has issued instructions to improve the work of prosecutors dealing with transport crimes. The Minister of Justice is trying to impose that the Attorney General has exceeded his authority and has decided to create new laws. Geshev’s answer is more than definite as he reminds that the instructions were created after the fatal car crash when a drugged driver killed Milen Tsvetkov.
Geshev also reminds minister Yordanova who is travelling by her ministerial Mercedes that the number of deaths on the road caused by drugged or drunk drivers increases more and more. And the prosecutor’s office advised on making adequate law changes that should have preventive effect two years ago. Still the members of the parliament cannot find time to look through them. Besides it is the main prosecutor’s duty to issue instructions to all other prosecutors. And this is a part of his job.
It would be quite interesting when Nadezhda Yordanova tries to defend her request and moreover – when she tries to challenge Geshev’s arguments. The truth is that not Geshev but Yordanova herself is in a more difficult situation. And the group of protesters paid by defendant oligarchs will not help her. The Minister of Justice will face the biggest failure in the history of institution because she relies not on juridical arguments but on politicking. And most of all – she is trying to fulfil a political task given to her – to fight with all forces and means, as she herself has stated, against the Attorney General. Because politics has no place in the judiciary, and the place of state prosecution is right there - in the temple of Themis.
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