Recruitment in the judiciary is synonymous with nepotism and dependencies

Legends are told about the staff in the judicial system. Years ago, the Sofia City Court imposed the understanding that in this unit of the judiciary there are two types of judges – “with blue blood” and “second hand magistrates”. The first category of judges is those who have passed as junior judges and then ordinary judges through the district court and have been elevated to the rank of SCC. It is debatable how relevant the institute of “junior magistrates” is at all to the contemporary generalized situation. Often they are appointed after the conduct of opaque competitions, in which the cases become known in advance to the persons who will win the competitions.

Most often, sons and daughters of active magistrates, be they investigators, prosecutors, or judges, pass through the position of junior judges and junior prosecutors. Junior judges and junior prosecutors do the same job as court and prosecutors’ assistants, but they are already in the judiciary. In practice, they are trained, but only after two or even a year they become chairmen of groups in the regional structures.

Magistrates with “blue blood”

It is the judges who have gone from junior magistrates to district judges to be considered “blue-blooded.” Magistrates who fall into the regional, appellate and administrative courts and public prosecutor’s offices after competitions for initial recruitment, also known as external competitions in the Sofia City Court, has long carried the stigma of second-hand lawyers.

In the last few years, the positions of judicial and prosecutorial assistants have also become a path to the career development of magistrates. It is indicative of the people who are appointed as court assistants in the Court of Appeal in Plovdiv, for example. By order RD 21/19.02.2021, the Chairman Magdalina Ivanova appointed three court assistants – Slavomir Todorov Buyukliev, Vasil Georgiev Chambov and Evgeni Radkov Paunov.

About Slavomir Buyulkiev are known several things – he is the son of a dentist and a notary in Asenovgrad. However, it is also a draft son-in-law of the former Prosecutor General and current chairman of KPKONPI Sotir Tsatsarov. Slawomir became famous for the general public thanks to a photo report by Club Z on the occasion of the graduation of Diana Tsatsarova. In the photos, he makes a company of Sotir Tsatsarov’s wife, who is also a notary in Assenograd, like his mother.

Vasil Georgiev Chambov is the son of the former chairman of the AC Plovdiv Georgi Chambov. These two court assistants confirm the hypothesis that nothing accidental happens in court. Evgeni Paunov has the same surname as the Ombudsman of Plovdiv Hristo Paunov, but at this stage our team does not find a connection between the two.

The latest “external” competition for administrative judges confirms the tendency for court assistants, who are most often non-random persons, to be appointed to magistrates’ positions. Publication of of the the BILI, quoted by the Capião newspaper, shows that more than 15 court assistants from the Supreme Administrative Court successfully participate in the external competition, as well as judicial and prosecutorial assistants from other units of the judiciary and members of the SJC administration.

According to the publication, the name of Anastasia Hitova stands out – a court assistant in the Supreme Administrative Court. She is the daughter of Diana Hitova, former judge at the Supreme Court of Cassation, and Peycho Hitov – former District Prosecutor of Sliven. The latter died under strange circumstances after declaring that he would launch an investigation against the former mayor (then acting) of Sliven Yordan Lechkov.

The career of Anastasia Hitova passes through the Second Department of the Supreme Administrative Court, headed by the former chairman of the court Georgi Kolev. She is now a judge in in the Administrative Court Sofia-city. In the Administrative Court Sofia-city goes and daughter of former SJC member Bozhidar Suknarov – Maya. The family also has Sliven roots. Her career also goes through the position of court assistant in the Supreme Administrative Court. The same is the distribution of Maria Vladimirova, again a former court assistant in the Supreme Administrative Court.

Genoveva Yoncheva – a former judicial assistant at the Supreme Administrative Court and a lecturer at the National Institute of Justice was also appointed at the Sofia City Administrative Court. Judge in the same unit of the judiciary is already Maria Boykinova – a former member of the CEC from the quota of GERB.

In the same court after the competition gathered a family – Lilia Yordanova began to administer justice side by side with her husband Antoni Ventzislavov Yordanov. Judge Yordanov enjoys the reputation of a conscientious and competent magistrate, although he is a “hereditary judge”. However, the appointment of his wife in the ACSC does not seem more appropriate because of this fact.

Iveta Stefanova was also appointed to the ACSC. She in daughter of Penka Grigorova Stefanova – retired prosecutor at the Supreme Administrative Prosecutor’s Office. Sources from the judiciary claim that Iveta Stefanova is the mother of the children of the Supreme Administrative Court judge Martin Avramov. A check in the property register shows that the two are related parties by virtue of property transactions.

In the AC Sofia – region falls the former court assistant from the Supreme Administrative Court Asen Mingov – son of the former member of the SJC prof. Dr. Anelia Mingova and Prof. Dr. Emil Mingov. Before being carded into a judge, he was promoted to a special legal representative of the Supreme Administrative Court. Mingov is also Deputy Chairman of the Association of Administration in the Judicial Authorities. The NGO is headed by the unsuccessful at least so far as a candidate for judge former Secretary General of the Supreme Administrative Court, as well as former MP from GERB Alexander Nikolov. BRRD paid due attention of his appearances in the National Assembly after the previous elections. Mladen Semov, who is already a former Secretary General of the Supreme Administrative Court and brother of the constitutional judge prof. Atanas Semov was also appointed as a judge in AS Sofia – region.

Desislava Tabakova, also a former Legal assistant in the Second Division of the Supreme Administrative Court. The daughter of the former member of the SJC Ivan Kolev – Maria Koleva, who also passes through the position of court assistant in the Supreme Administrative Court, also goes to the AC Pazardzhik. There another colleague of hers from the Supreme Administrative Court – Maria Hubcheva will keep her company. In the administrative court in Blagoevgrad were appointed ex-court assistants in the Supreme Administrative Court Georgi Ivanov and Todor Todorov. Maria Hristova – former Director of the Competitions of Magistrates Directorate from the administration of the SJC, is also employed there. Another cadre of the Council – Vasil Pelovski, former Director of the Legal Directorate, goes to the AC Varna.

The son of a former judge in the Supreme Administrative Court Andrey Ikonomov – Todor, a former court assistant in the Supreme Administrative Court, was appointed to the AC Burgas. Spas Spasov – judicial assistant to the Chairman of the Fourth Section of the Supreme Administrative Court and a member of the Selection Committee Judge Mario Dimitrov is employed in Ruse.

Conflicts of interest in the SJC

Very disturbing is the participation in the vote of the candidates by the President of the Supreme Administrative Court Georgi Cholakov. In a previous competition for “embarkation” of judges from the administrative courts in the Supreme Administrative Court, Cholakov was taken away on the grounds that he knew the candidates and the attestation committee. This time, however, he fails to do so. And there is no shortage of reasons because he voted for the candidacy of Judge Nelly Stoyanova. The lady was appointed to the AC Burgas and her relationship with Cholakov is documented. The relations between the two have been commented in the legal forums in connection with a competition for notaries since 2009. Many photos also testify to the closeness between Cholakov and Stoyanova.

Rumors claim that the relationship between the two has gone beyond the sphere of professional, but bird.bg is a media that respects people’s personal space. However, there is a hypothesis that Cholakov was in a conflict of interest or at least a morally reprehensible situation when he did not take part in the vote for Nelly Stoyanova.

An indisputable fact, according to sources from the judiciary, is that Diana Hitova and Bozhidar Suknarov, in addition to being former judges of the Supreme Court of Cassation, are also such slivnalyi and close friends of Cholakov. It would be right for him to take the vote of their children as well. However, Cholakov does not consider it necessary. Sources from the Supreme Administrative Court claim that Asen Mingov was Cholakov’s “personal” court assistant, but the chairman of the court is not taken away in his case. In the judicial circles circulates the hypothesis that Mingov will be the next chairman of ACSO when, after three years, the term of office of the current chairman expires. Thus, Cholakov would cement his positions in this unit of the judiciary.

For comparison, in the same vote, another member of the SJC – Atanaska Disheva is taken on some of the proposals. She did not participate in the vote for Semov, Ikonomov and Spasov because she worked on various cases with them in the Supreme Administrative Court. Disheva also noted that Todor Ikonomov is the son of her colleague Andrey Ikonomov, with whose wife she was in the same office. She was also taken away from the vote for Maria Hristova and Vasil Pelovski, who are directors of directorates in the SJC and she had official relations with them.

Along with Geshev and Tsatsarov, Georgi Cholakov enjoys the reputation of one of Peevski’s “people”. Within the 44th National Assembly with amendments to the JSA, made quietly, the powers of Cholakov and the other “big” of the judiciary increased. With the way he seconds judges, however, according to many experts, it causes organized chaos in administrative justice. All this, however, remains outside the focus of public attention, and the justice system is conquered by representatives of the status quo and (re)produced by them magistrates.

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