Balgarianovinite.com Acting on a motion by its President Galina Zaharova, Bulgaria’s Supreme Court of Cassation (SCC) on Wednesday opened proceedings for the adoption of an interpretative judgment by the General Assembly of the SCC Criminal Chamber.
The judgment is supposed to reconcile conflicting case law prompted by a lingering controversy over the legitimacy of the continued tenure of Borislav Sarafov as acting prosecutor general.
A number of Bulgarian courts argue that, under Judicial System Act amendments, effective January 21, 2025, which limited to six months the period during which a particular individual can serve as acting prosecutor general in question, his capacity as acting prosecutor general lapsed on July 21, 2025, i.e. six months after the entry into force of these provisions.
In early October 2025, two SCC panels refused to institute proceedings on motions entered by Sarafov for reopening of criminal cases, arguing that he does not legitimately perform the functions of prosecutor general.
According to this view, the provision at issue that has been added in the law has a “quasi-retroactive effect” on existing legal relationships, as it keeps the juridical fact that predates it (Sarafov’s designation as acting prosecutor general by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) Prosecutors Chamber on June 16, 2023, confirmed on September 24, 2025) but re-regulates the legal consequences of this fact by introducing a maximum period of six months.
For its part, the SJC Prosecutors Chamber argues that this time limit does not apply to Sarafov because his designation predated the legal revision in question, which does not make specific provisions for this situation. This view is shared by some appellate courts.
According to this view, the six-month limitation applies only ex nunc and is inapplicable to persons who have been assigned such functions before its entry into force, to the extent that the Transitional and Final Provisions of the Act to Amend and Supplement the Judicial System Act do not provide explicitly for retroactivity of this rule and, therefore, existing legal relationships may not be re-regulated. The proponents of this opinion furthermore argue that it is in principle inadmissible to discontinue indefinitely the activity of constitutionally legitimated authorities like the prosecutor general by reason of termination or expiry of the term of office of the elected holder of such office and non-election of a successor according to the established procedure.
The initiation of the SCC case comes a day after the Constitutional Court issued a decision stating that it is the responsibility of the SCC to reconcile conflicting case law on the matter. Supreme Court to Address Prosecutor General’s Standing to Have Cases Reopened 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-04-08 15:53:04 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law