14709 | 10 Dec. 2024 | 09:54

Even during the selection of Prof. Boris Velchev, his "scandalous" background was highlighted, as he was the son of Vladimir Velchev, a member of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party, and the grandson of Boris Velchev

 For over 30 years, since the chief prosecutor has been elected according to the rules of democracy in Bulgaria, the candidates for this position and the personalities who subsequently hold it have been subject to noisy scandals and a barrage of political attacks.

 Since the time of the late Ivan Tatarchev - the first democratically elected chief prosecutor, accusations of bias and political manipulations against him opened the Pandora's box of mud campaigns against anyone who stands for candidacy or takes over the leadership of the prosecutor's office.

 Whether Tatarchev was rightfully accused of being harsh, revengeful, uncooperative, selfish and overly aggressive towards political opponents is a matter of interpretation, but the trend for every chief prosecutor to be criticized and slandered for their personal life or characteristics of their character or family is already present.

 The saga of powerful political attacks and scandals surrounding the personality and management of Professor Nikola Filchev continues to unfold. Myths and legends still persist around him to this day - some true, some half-true, but undoubtedly all used against him in his position as chief prosecutor.  

 Even at the time of the selection of Professor Boris Velchev, his scandalous background was highlighted - his father Vladimir Velchev being a member of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party and his grandfather Boris Velchev, the second man in the Politburo of the Bulgarian Communist Party until the mid-70s. These details of Velchev's background were proclaimed so loudly and at such a high pitch that they even managed to overshadow any discussion of his qualities as a lawyer. Later, the notorious politician Volen Siderov called for him to leave the system, as he had not emerged from the ranks of various foundations and NGOs. Siderov is now a thing of the past as a politician and only survives as a public figure in platforms and social media such as Tik-Tok, but the campaigns against the main prosecutors in Bulgaria have not stopped.

 History also remembers the period when Sotir Tsatsarov ran for chief prosecutor.  He began to be accused of deals involving fruit gardens, with the same compromising material being exchanged, articulated publicly by a small and noisy circle of activists who have not changed either their faces or their methods for smearing in such campaigns, nor their style to this day.
 
 The protests against Cacarov's personality did not stop, as he was not able to complete his mandate due to taking on another government position, but instead we witnessed scenes of battle, including the burning of effigies in the square.  

 Let us also remember the sad story of former Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev, who even before he became a candidate, became the target of a powerful campaign. It began with attacks against his wife, bringing up details from her professional career, which clients she defended as a lawyer, interpretations, digging into her property, and more. Later in the campaign, even his elderly father was involved, who was accused by the same circles of acquiring a share of a business, which was demonstrated as a "huge public scandal".

   Only a month remains until the election of the current interim chief prosecutor, and the playing field with potential candidates shows no signs of calming down. Chief Prosecutor Borislav Sarafov and the situation repeats itself without any differences in the plot. Ever since his nomination was raised by three members of the Prosecutor's College of the Supreme Judicial Council, the attacks were in progress and the same activists who have been flooding the public space with aggression towards every chief prosecutor since 1992 are once again on the scene, as if someone pressed the "Start" button for them.

 Digging around Sarafov's family began- his son was on a labor contract and receiving a salary, his ex-wife also worked for payment on a contract in a popular transportation company. After an attempt to be compromised, details about his son's business were pulled out and presented as a "new major scandal", claiming that he took out a bank loan.

 At the very least, the overall trend here is obvious - it doesn't matter what the truth is, whether it's taken out of context or simply a fake compromise, the important thing is to discredit the candidate. And just by looking at the faces, who are still continuing the nearly 30-year history of "the art of compromise against the chief prosecutors", we will see that they don't actually change their beliefs, they just add new political benefactors.

 Volen Siderov was replaced by Hristo Ivanov, and after the downfall of his political career, by Lena Borislavova, Kiril Petkov, Asen Vasilev, and others. The usual suspects - NGO activists from organizations like "BOETS", "Justice for All", "Anti-Corruption Fund" and others - have not changed their desire to take over and destroy the Prosecutor's Office and to appoint one of their own as Chief Prosecutor.

 However, another attack against another candidate for Chief Prosecutor seems powerless and it becomes more and more obvious that the script needs to be changed because it has become boring for those who follow the processes in the system. At the very least, this is necessary because all signals and allegations of irregularities against Borislav Sarafov have already been thoroughly investigated and unequivocally refuted by the ad hoc prosecutor appointed about a year ago by the Chief Prosecutor - Judge Daniela Talev Everyone who knows the authority of judge Taleva has no doubt that if she had found even the slightest irregularity or violation related to Sarafov, information about it would have come from her, not from various associations and politicians whose goal of taking over all important positions in the judicial system is now more than obvious. And he himself would not have been allowed to participate in the procedure for the selection of the next Chief Prosecutor.  

 And so it goes with the next candidate, after a little over 7 years. Hopefully, there will be time for it to become clear that the mechanisms of propaganda, manipulation, and dirty campaigns have already been worn out as tools for pressure on the judicial authority. 30 years is enough.