Bulgaria’s chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev was removed by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) on June 12 for harming the prestige of the judiciary, following an unexpected U-turn by the SJC’s members, until a month ago his loyal supporters.

Geshev was a controversial choice for chief prosecutor. When he was elected back in 2019, he was the sole candidate for the post and many magistrates said at the time that he lacked the experience to become chief prosecutor.

The procedure for Geshev’s removal started in mid-May, when six members of the SJC filed a request for the dismissal of the chief prosecutor for abuse of office. Several days later, a second request was filed by four out of these six members of the council, for harming the prestige of the judiciary, after he called MPs “political trash”. His removal was also requested by his deputy, Borislav Sarafov, over a number of violations.

These sudden motions against Geshev coincided with a statement by Deputy Prime Minister Mariya Gabriel of Gerb, at the time the nominated for prime minister, that his removal would be among her top priorities. That was backed by the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS). Until then, Gerb and DPS had backed Geshev and, in return, he either did not launch or delayed corruption investigations involving their leaders and key members.

The SJC’s six members subsequently withdrew the first request for Geshev’s removal, which made the procedure faster and more simple.

On June 12, he was removed with the votes of 16 members of the SJC with just four voting against. The SJC ruled that by calling the MPs “political trash” Geshev harmed the prestige of the judiciary.

Now President Rumen Radev has to sign a decree on Geshev’s early removal. Theoretically, the president could return the decision to the SJC, which will have to repeat the procedure. It is hard to predict what Radev will decide. Until a year ago fierce opponents, Geshev and Radev seem to have united recently.

Controversial appointment

Geshev has been accused of shielding members of Gerb and DPS while pursuing their critics. His election in 2019 was marred by controversy as he was the sole candidate for the post and many magistrates said at the time that he lacked the experience to become chief prosecutor.

In his public statements at the time, Geshev increased those doubts by directly accusing opponents of Gerb and DPS of being mafia members and criminals.

His opponents have been campaigning against Geshev’s appointment ever since his name was put forward, and welcomed his removal. 

“After writing so much about [Geshev], stunningly, I do not feel joy. His removal was harder than his appointment – it took several years of work and a long session of the SJC,” Adela Kachaunova, attorney-at-law and director of the Legal Protection Programme of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC), wrote on Facebook.

She added that both Geshev’s election and his removal were the result of political agreements and not of a reform of the judiciary.

Former justice minister Nadezhra Yordanova, who filed a request for Geshev’s removal while in office, commented that the SJC’s decision was late and expected.

“This procedure for early dismissal of Geshev as chief prosecutor raises more questions than it provides solutions,” she noted.

Meanwhile, Geshev left the SJC’s session before it ended on June 12 to travel to Brussels where the EU’s LIBE Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group will hold an extraordinary session on June 13 to discuss the rule of law in Bulgaria amid the ongoing war between Geshev and his deputy, Sarafov, and Gerb’s leader Boyko Borissov.

“Let’s see whether [Geshev] will open the box of worms and how he will excuse the lack of activity until this moment,” Kachaunova noted regarding the LIBE committee hearing.

Prosecution bites back

While the SJC was debating Geshev’s removal, he submitted a request to parliament to lift the immunity of Kiril Petkov, co-leader of Change Continues, one of the main parties behind the new government. 

The request was filed on June 12, after the Sofia District Prosecution decided to launch a probe into a declaration provided by Petkov back in 2021. when he was appointed caretaker economy minister. At the time, Petkov, until then having Bulgarian and Canadian citizenship, declared he was no longer a citizen of Canada.

The case was referred at the time to the constitutional court as Petkov claimed he had decided to give up his Canadian citizenship before being appointed minister, but Canada’s decision was formally issued later. The court ruled that Petkov was still a citizen of Canada at the time of his appointment but that it would not annul his actions while serving as economy minister. The Sofia prosecution then decided not to investigate the case.

On June 12, Geshev also directly accused Gerb leader Boyko Borissov and DPS member Delyan Peevski of being behind his removal. 

Previously, Geshev targeted Borissov with the relaunch of a high-level corruption case, dubbed Barcelonagate. Geshev asked parliament to lift Borissov’s immunity, providing thousands of pages of evidence.

The information about possible money laundering involving people linked to Borissov was first revealed back in 2020 by Spanish El Periodico and confirmed at the time by the police. In February 2022, the government said it had received new evidence indicating that €5mn was laundered in the scandal. The probe was then dropped, but has now been reactivated, coinciding with the rift between Borissov and Geshev.

Geshev also asked for the immunity of some other MPs to be lifted. In return, the parliament decided to set up an ad-hoc committee to analyse each request in order to decide whether the prosecution’s request is politically motivated or based on solid proofs.