Strasbourg does not believe in miracles: ECHR names Supreme Administrative Court as ‘justice hooligan’

ECHR ruling in Nedelchev v. Bulgaria says Bulgaria’s Supreme Administrative Court, also known as the Court of Miracles, DOES NOT guarantee the right to a fair trialconducted publicly by an independent and impartial tribunal. It is severe and seriously incriminating diagnosis for judges who are called upon to be the highest guarantor of the rule of law (at least administrative) in a European country.

There are deeds — in the literal sense of the word — that persecute their fathers. Many years later. This is exactly the case about which BIVOL first told in its own
investigation
in 2017 – on the eve of the election of Georgi Cholakov for the boss of YOU. This is a case from 2012, in which Cholakov participated personally as a member of the judicial panel – as a newly appointed judge after an external “competition”. Cholakov actually Redundant Police Chief Chavdar Bozhurski Returns

to Work, removed from the Ministry of Interior because of drunken excesses in the night club “Soho” in Sliven. One by one Happy Coincidence However, by 2012 Bojurski was the boss of Cholakov’s brother, Petko, in the Regional Combat Organized Crime in Sliven. In other words, Cholakov should have taken away – but he did not. Asked in 2017 about this decision, he justified the fact that he was not the rapporteur in the case (the rapporteur is actually Judge Marcheva, who 2 years later will allow the citizen Alexey Trifonov to head the Sofia City Court). Yeah, but so what, we’d ask. The grounds for recusal apply to all members of the Chamber, not just the rapporteur.

Either way, at the same time, another, identical court proceedings related to the dismissal of policeman Nedelcho Nedelchev, head of the Sliven Police Precinct, developed. Nedelchev arrives on the spot on the night of the scandal and pays the bill of Bozhurski, who was violent and refused to pay. Subsequently, however, he “burned” together with Bozhursky due to his attempt to manipulate the testimony given by the patrol officers before the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Interior. And here comes the key difference – in the court appeal Nedelchev loses to the Supreme Administrative Court, while Bojurski happily wins. Courtesy of Cholakov. And this given that the deeds of both are in fact identical.

The decision of the ECHR – SAC has committed gross violations

Okay, but… The saga does not end there. Police officer Nedelchev filed a lawsuit against Bulgaria at the European Court of Human Rights. The ground is refusal of access to justice and lack of real judicial review of the dismissal order. The case was filed in 2013, and eight years later the ECHR
rules
in favour of the policeman, declaring a violation of Article 6(1) of the Convention – namely, the right to a fair trial. Everyone can get acquainted with the exact text in Bulgarian here

, but we will say it bluntly: the Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court DOES NOT guarantee the right to a fair trialconducted publicly by an independent and impartial tribunal. That’s pretty severe and seriously incriminating diagnosis for judges who are called upon to be the highest guarantor of the rule of law (at least administrative) in a European country. Translated into simple language, the ECtHR says to YOU: “in fact, You are not such a guarantor.”

The ECtHR explicitly commented on and compared with Bozhurski’s case. The central argument is this: since Bozhurski could rely on an expired disciplinary limitation period – and thus achieve an official victory and cancel his dismissal, why could not Nedelchev do the same?! And here it is The double standard of the Supreme Administrative Court and the proof that Bozhurov is obviously a more special person – if he can, but for others he cannot. Things look Extremely simple, straight in a bankyan’s way: Interior Minister Tsvetanov has issued the order for Bozhurski’s dismissal with 4 days delay, i.e. only 4 days after the expiration of the limitation period. And only on this ground – although in essence Bojurski’s violations have been established and proven – the dismissal order has been revoked by the five members of the Supreme Administrative Court. At the same time, based on exactly the same facts, dates, time periods, etc. in Nedelchev’s case You don’t bother commenting at all. whether or not the two-month limitation period has expired. The decision of the three-member panel was confirmed by a five-member panel – who not only did not comment on the deadline, but also ignored Nedelchev’s cassation complaints, which are exactly in this direction. This, according to the ECtHR, is particularly serious violation committed by the Bulgarian Supreme Court judges. The complete absence of reasons on the question of time limit constitutes a sufficiently serious breach to render the State liable under Article 6 of the Convention. But it could be worse, as the optimist says. And this is because the five-member panel of the Supreme Administrative Court considers and decides the case without Nedelchev to participate in the session at all – which is essentially a ‘closed’ sitting, or at least a one-sided one. This is precisely the meaning that the Convention puts into the term “public trial” – and this principle has been violated by YOU. Tomorrow, dear readers, the court can hear your case without you being able to participate yourself. Why the Let’s listen to annoying people. What do they say to us, and according to documents everything is “clear”, right, dear Supreme Court judges? This, incidentally, was also the thesis of Barney Rubble when he tried

to legalize closed sessions in 2018 cassation cases in the Supreme Administrative Court. I wonder who suggested Barney’s idea? We personally think not only of Georgi Kolev, but also of Boyan Magdalinchev –e.g. Not to mention Cholakov.

After the ECHR – restart of the saga

ECtHR decisions are 100% grounds for annulment of entered-into-force decisions of YOU. Nedelchev was not late to take advantage of this procedural opportunity – on September 30, 2021, he filed an application for annulment, on which the Supreme Administrative Court Pronounced Pretty fast, in just 2 months. The decision of the Supreme Administrative Court criticized by the ECtHR was annulled and The case begins from the beginning, before a three-member panel. Here things are delayed and the new composition takes ten months to come up with a decision on the substance, with the outcome actually foreshadowed – Tsvetanov’s order was
revoked.
as issued after the expiration of the preclusive two-month period. Just like Bozhursky 10 years earlier. We can expect with a great degree of certainty that the Ministry of Interior will still appeal to a five-member panel. But still, unless a “miracle” happens, The five should confirm the the decision of the tri-state. Then we expect the final phase of this saga – Nedelchev to file a lawsuit for compensation against the Ministry of Interior. And now let’s calculate a little bit – from 2010 to 2023 are 13 years – i.e. when we add interest, we are going to pay quite a lot of compensation. And why? Not only because Tsvetanov has overdue the order by 4 days, but also mostly because of the clumsy and duplicitous administration of justice realized by the Supreme Administrative Court at the time.

YOU as an intransigent repeat offender

However, let us not think, dear readers, that the Supreme Administrative Court has become too “wiser” over the years and has begun to seriously comply with the European Convention on Human Rights. No, on the contrary – as we will point out below, there is something like severe relapse on the part of the Supreme Court judges, such as the cases similar to the above recently, have become very frequent. We will cite (so far) only two in number, but striking examples.

First of all, the KTB case stands out. In August 2022, the ECHR violation

of the right to a fair trial as well as the right to property, following a decision of the Supreme Administrative Court from 2015, in which a panel chaired personally by the head of the court Georgi Kolev ruled that the former directors of Corpbank AD have no legal interest (?!) in appealing the revocation of the bank’s license from the BNB. The judgment of the ECtHR is exclusively severe and multi-layered criticism against the decision of the Supreme Administrative Court, handed down under the expert leadership of the legal leader of the People’s Militia, Georgi Kolev (in the only case he has heard for 7 years as head of the Supreme Administrative Court). And as mentioned above, this gives a formal reason to revoke the decision of the Supreme Administrative Court and restart the process. This is exactly what the four former directors of Corpbank AD did in November 2022. Following are some
strange
orders of the Supreme Administrative Court, with which Judge Ancheva is essentially trying to sabotage the application for cancellation. Either way, however, the four persisted – and after 3 months of “jurkane” of the file, on February 23 (i.e. literally days ago) the case was opened. It remains to be seen how it will develop in essence, as far as such a process is actually Unparalleled in our judicial history. From the very beginning, however, an alarming detail is striking – the chairman of the five-member panel, which will look at the application for annulment is… Georgi Kolev. In our opinion, this is schizophrenic (to put it mildly) and deeply wrong. Elementary decency dictates that Kolev should NOT participate in the composition, which would now eventually overturn the decision of the panel chaired by him at the time personally! Folks?!?

The second scandalous decision of the Supreme Administrative Court is in the
case
“Hippoland.” About this case Members have written

many times, but we will add that it fits snugly into the classic framework of fumus persecutionis

– i.e. resorting to seemingly legitimate methods for the purpose of illegal repression.. This last term was used last year by the European Parliament when it Vote with a large majority against the request of the Main Cap for waiver of the immunity of Elena Yoncheva. In this case, “Hippo” was punished by the CPC (with absurd motives!) with fine of BGN 120,000Which you confirmed. This tritchane was for edification – because dozens of Hippo employees dared to protest with their faces and uniforms in the hot summer of 2020 against this same Chief Cap and his boss Boko, who “very successfully goes crazy“. Because the owner of “Hippo” dared to write an open letter against the local Interior Minister Mladen Marinov (he and the driver of Meto Ilienski), who gave the order to fire volleys of highly toxic tear gas at teenagers and all other protesters. Because “Hippo” was not among the the obedient bokov-dogan companies, which obediently ensured corporate vote election-post-election. Because the phrase of “Hippo” had to be crushed – for a lesson to others.

To date, this shameful decision of the Supreme Administrative Court also
travels
to the ECHR. We can assume with a high degree of probability what the judges in Strasbourg will decide. To top it off, we should point out that the three-member panel of the Supreme Administrative Court, which completed the process of triching “Hippo”, is something like a wall of shame. Why – very simple. The rapporteur in this composition is the woman of Emil Pirata

, pardon Emil MEP, from GERB. And “Hippo” protested against the personification of GERB, The Sun Chief (he and Father) of the Nation) B. M. Borisov. The second member of the panel is Tanya Damyanova – who is the wife of Ognyan Damyanov, a member of the PC(P) of the SJC and The fiercest and most selfless defender of the Main Cap. And yes, Hippo protested against that same Cap. And yes, Prosecutor Damyanov has spoken mockingly, humiliatingly and vulgarly against the protesters against Geshev in 2019 and 2020 – That’s right, Comrade DamyanovIn the minutes of the SJC meetings everything is written in black and white. This same Damyanov attacked and still attacked without a shred of shame and measure the justice ministers Stoilov, Demerdzhiev, Yordanova and Zarkov every time they dared to say even a word “in vain” to the the great Reichsführer of the Prosecutor’s Office Ivan Geshev. This is written in the minutes. And from all this it follows that one could hardly imagine more biased, biased and defective jury than the one formed by the Gerbero-prosecutorial wives. As they say, with this decision, YOU don’t just hit rock bottom, it He hit and started digging with 200.

Instead of an epilogue: Bojurski and Petko 5 years later

To date, Chavdar Bozhurski is no longer on the state salary. In 2017, shortly before appointing Georgi Cholakov as head of the Supreme Administrative Court, Boyko Borisov appointed the policeman Bojurski for Regional Governor of Sliven. On the basis of what management qualifications – Devil knows (In fact, Boyko knows, but he did not say). In May 2021, after Borisov fell from power, the first caretaker cabinet dismissed Bozhurski from office. From his final
A statement
to KPKONPI clearly shows that Bozhurski “retires” as an extremely wealthy and real estate civil servant – 15 properties are indicated, including houses, apartments, lands, forests and so on. Separately, we see deposits for over BGN 100,000, as well as funds in investment funds for the same amount. God forbid everyone, as they say.

As for Petko Cholakov, the brother of the head of the Supreme Administrative Court, since 2016 he is no longer working in the Regional Service for Combating Organized Crime (RZBOP). According to Bivol’s 2017 investigation – due to suspicions of Links with the criminal contingent. Since then, it has been manager of a municipal security company in Sliven and nothing more was heard about it. Completely silent about Petko turned out to be the court registers, as our studies Revealed a single decision by which the court annulled a disciplinary measure imposed by Petko on his subordinate in the municipal company. Outside of that, man, as they say, remains completely under the radar. Still, it should be mentioned that the municipal company wins over BGN 9 million from public procurement over the years. Will such an order not end up in YOU? Food for thought, so to speak.

***

За да научавате преди всички за нови разследвания, инсталирайте си нашето мобилно приложение:

Щом сте стигнали дотук, вероятно вече си задавате въпроса как се финансира този журналистически проект.

От създаването си BIRD се финансираше от подаяния в нашето журналистическо чекмедже.
Но на чекмеджето му мина времето. Даже прокуратурата затвори онова Чекмедже, знаете кое…
Нашето финансиране влиза в крак с епохата. Фондонабиращата ни кампания вече се казва

#МятайСБЪРД

Дарявай за BIRD и мятай павета в блатото с корумпирани политици и други тарикати.
Те тайно премятат пари от твоя джоб в своя. Те размятат безнаказано лукса си пред очите на всички. Няма кой да ги накаже ако се надяваш на държавата.
Мятай, за да ги накажеш ти. Да дариш за разследващите журналисти е гаранция, че гадостите, с които силните на деня те замерят, ще им се върнат.
Можеш да метнеш веднъж, за да ти олекне!
Но по-добре е да мяташ редовно всеки месец и да се чувстваш трайно удовлетворен.
А най-добре е да доведеш приятели и да мятаме редовно заедно в екип. С мощен залп!
*За кръстник на новата ни фондонабираща кампания избрахме другарката Ваня. Благодарим й за вдъхновението!