HIGHLIGHTS

Transparent Judicial Appointments Initiative and judicialprofiles.bg were officially presented before the media, legal experts, members of the judiciary and the civic society.

A set of amendments to the Judicial system act (JSA) was presented to the media on a press conference organized on 16.02.2012 by the Bulgarian Institute for Legal Initiatives (BILI) in the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA).

On February 14, representatives of 12 NGOs submitted a package of proposals for amendments in the Judiciary System Act to the Minister of Justice - Ms Diana Kovacheva.The proposed amendments concern the replenishment of the judiciary and parliamentary quotas of the Supreme Judicial Council.

The Secretary General of the European Commission, Ms Catherine Day, expressed appreciation to BILI and the other non-governmental organisations for their initiative and the letter sent on December 19, 2011 regarding the recent nominations of judicial inspectors at the Inspectorate to the Supreme Judicial Council.

The website www.judicialprofiles.bg is providing a unified format for making relevant data on judicial performance evaluation and career process easily accessible on an on-going basis.

The continuous polemics related to the procedure for election of inspectors for the Inspectorate at the Supreme Judicial Council (ISJC) from the Parliament, engaged 12 NGOs once again to remind of the essence of the position stated in the letter from December 19, 2011 (supported by 11 leading NGOs) and further developed by the Union of Judges in Bulgaria in their letter from December 20, 2011.

The strong resistance of the non-governmental sector against the procedure of appointment of Inspectors in the ISJC reached the European Commission today in the form of a widely supported Letter

Nominations of the candidates were announced literally hours before the upcoming hearing, including in violation of the deadline (December 9th) set by the Committee itself.

On December 1st, the SJC is going to conduct election for a President of the Specialized Criminal Court of Appeal (SCCA).

As part of the Transparent Judicial Appointments Initiative and in relation with the forthcoming contest for President of Karlovo District Court BILI prepared and distributed profiles of the candidates for this position.

In relation with the upcoming elections for President of Haskovo Regional Court and as part of the Transparent Judicial Appointments Initiative, BILI prepared the profiles of the two candidates - judge Rosen Rusev and judge Miglena Tyankova.

BILI prepared and distributed the profiles of judge Velichka Ivanova-Vlasheva and judge Georgi Nikolov in relation with the elections held on October 6th, 2011 for the position President of the Specialized Criminal Court (with the exception of the profile of judge Georgi Ushev, which was already prepared for the past election for President of the Specialized Criminal Court of Appeal and may be reviewed in the previous post).

Judge Rymiana Ilieva, judge Georgi Ushev, judge Desislav Lyubomirov and prosecutor Аsen Hristov are the four candidates for President ot the Specialized criminal court of appeal whose election will be held at September 29th, 2011.

The Council recalls that the existence of an impartial, independent and effective administrative and judicial system, with sufficient resources, is indispensable for EU policies to function properly and for citizens to benefit fully from all the opportunities offered by membership of the Union.

On September 12th, 2011, The General Delegate Assembly of all judges in Bulgaria stands before an important and responsible election for new members of the SJC from the judiciary quota.

In regard to the forthcoming election of the two new members of the SJC from the parliamentary quota, BILI sent to all MP the candidates' profiles prepared by using only information which is available to the public.