"The legal challenges , which Bulgaria is facing, are due to the failed reform of the judicial system"
This was stated before the BNR by lawyer Alexander Kashamov, human rights defender and activist, executive director of the "Access to Information" Program, reserve member of the Supreme Bar Council.
Since 2015 and 2016, when there was great energy for judicial reform, the first changes were made to the Constitution, until today a certain slippage is felt, commented Kashamov. A large part of the constitutional amendments made fell to the Constitutional Court, adds the guest.
The stalemate in the National Assembly and the political crisis are at the root of the issue of the Supreme Judicial Council, which is working with an expired mandate, as well as the issues of electing the chairman of the Supreme Court and electing a new chief prosecutor, Kashamov believes.
The mentioned problems were also influenced by Peevski, who is the main bearer of the idea of mastering the judicial system, according to Kashamov. The political forces are also to blame, as the need for reforms was clearly formulated, they did not manage to form a stable majority, the lawyer states.
A law on foreign agents exists in some form in some former Soviet republics, as well as in Hungary and Slovakia, explains Kashamov, who is adamant that such legislation serves only one idea – the return of the most terrible ideology, in which the image of the enemy is inside society.
Classes more important than individual personality is a misanthropic, according to Kashamov, an idea that belongs to communist ideology and is a serious attempt to instill hatred in a society.
"Russia's war against Europe goes the way of such a law," the lawyer states.
Kashamov explains why the Prosecutor's Office is important and the election of the chief prosecutor and the control over him was one of the most important topics of the Judicial Reform. The prosecutor, on the one hand, deals with investigating crimes, bringing charges, and maintaining cases in the courts in order to convict criminals.
The lawyer highlights another function of the Prosecutor's Office – participation in administrative cases contesting decisions of various institutions. This means that in the hands of the Prosecutor General is the power to bring charges against Municipal Councils, Mayors, Ministers, the government itself, as well as to challenge normative acts, rules and regulations.
"This is a huge power that should be in good hands," says Kashamov and adds that the constitutional amendments have not managed to shake the figure of the chief prosecutor.
"Although I am currently part of the Supreme Bar Council, in the capacity of an elected reserve member, I am part of a minority in it, in which, in a paradoxical way, the chairman himself falls. During this time, one of the vice-presidents with the majority makes decisions that ignore the different views" , says Kashamov.
The lawyer concludes the conversation by saying: "There are many important things that the bar must do, not only for its members, but for society as a whole. We must be at the head of the processes, to stop attempts to change the Constitution, negative attempts to change the laws. And vice versa – to support such attempts that stabilize the system, affirm the rights of citizens and can lead to the prosperity of the whole society."