site.btaProsecutor General Ivan Geshev Officially Receives Proposal for His Early Dismissal

The Plenum of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) has adopted internal rules for the early dismissal of the Prosecutor General and the presidents of the Supreme Court of Cassation (SCC) and the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC). At a meeting of the SJC on Thursday, Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev officially received a proposal from Justice Minister Nadezhda Yordanova for his dismissal. "I declare that I have received and signed the proposal," Geshev said.

With the rules adopted on Thursday, the SJC set out the deadlines and framework for conducting the procedure for the early dismissal of the prosecutor general and two supreme court presidents. With the official acceptance of the proposal and the related materials by the Prosecutor General, the procedure was set in motion.

The Plenum decided to hold its next meeting on April 4 to rule on the admissibility of Minister Yordanova's proposal for Ivan Geshev’s early dismissal.

On March 2, Minister Yordanova submitted a proposal to the Plenum for the dismissal of Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev in connection with nine sets of circumstances. This is the second time such a request has been made, after in 2021 caretaker Minister of Justice Yanaki Stoilov initiated the same procedure, but on the basis of different information. The Plenum of the SJC then decided to dismiss the proposal as inadmissible. The SJC's decision was appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC). After the Constitutional Court ruled on February 8 that the Minister of Justice could make a proposal to the SJC for the early release from office of the Prosecutor General and the presidents of the SCC and SAC, the SAC case was reopened. The ruling of the court states that the Plenum of the SJC is obliged to rule on the merits in connection with the request of the Minister of Justice.