Balgarianovinite.com Borislav Sarafov has resigned as Bulgaria’s acting Prosecutor General, it emerged from an address to the members of the judiciary that was published on the website of the prosecution service at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
“Before the Prosecutors Chamber of the Supreme Judicial Council today, I withdrew my consent to serve as acting Prosecutor General,” Sarafov wrote in his statement.
Lingering Controversy
Sarafov, until then Deputy Prosecutor General, was designated as acting prosecutor general by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) Prosecutors Chamber on June 16, 2023, following the removal of his predecessor Ivan Geshev.
His tenure was overshadowed by a lingering controversy over his legitimacy. 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, his capacity to serve in this office lapsed on July 21, 2025, i.e. six months after the entry into force of these provisions.
In early October 2025, two panels of the Supreme Court of Cassation refused to institute proceedings on motions entered by Sarafov for reopening of criminal cases, arguing that he did not legitimately perform the functions of prosecutor general.
For its part, the SJC Prosecutors Chamber has argued that the six-months time limit did not apply to Sarafov because his designation predated the legal revision at issue, which did not make specific provisions for this situation. This view was shared by some appellate courts.
Caretaker Justice Minister Andrey Yankulov’s two attempts to have the Prosecutors Chamber unseat Sarafov were stonewalled. In a Facebook post, Ivan Demerdzhiev, a former caretaker interior minister who will be in the new Parliament as part of former President Rumen Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria Coalition, gave Sarafov until April 22 to resign, arguing that he “has no legitimacy whatsoever”. Demerdzhiev urged Yankulov to order Judicial Security to bar Sarafov’s access to his office at Sofia’s Palace of Justice, but the Justice Minister opposed the idea, arguing that the Prosecutors Chamber rather than the cabinet is competent to vest the functions of prosecutor general in Sarafov.
Departure Deliberately Delayed
“I made my decision back some time ago, after carefully weighing all legal and institutional consequences. I postponed making it public so as to avoid a further destabilization of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Bulgaria in conditions of a prolonged and grave political crisis which, I hope, as the majority of Bulgarian citizens have demonstrated, has this time found its successful solution,” Sarafov said in his address.
“Regrettably, in recent months the prosecution service continued to be subjected to unfounded and wrongful pressure. Along with that, I was targeted by a purposeful campaign of denigration and discrediting disclosures. I nevertheless placed above all the interest of the institution to which I devoted more than three decades of my professional career and assumed the responsibility to continue to perform my functions,” the statement reads.
Sarafov believes that at this point there are prerequisites for a new stage in the development of the prosecution service, based on sustainability and predictability. He earnestly hopes that the implementation of long delayed decisions and elections in the judiciary will go ahead shortly, respecting the principles of transparency, legality, and statesmanlike accountability, and unconditionally ensuring the independence of Bulgarian magistrates who are the staunchest champions of the implementation of the judicial reform underlain by professional criteria and living up to the public’s expectation that the rule of law and the achievement of justice will be asserted,” Sarafov said in his address. Borislav Sarafov Resigns as Acting Prosecutor General 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-04-22 08:38:00 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