Deputy Minister of Justice Emil Dechev Comments on “Barcelonagate” and Judicial Reform in Bulgaria

“I assume that Ivan Geshev spoke in the hall about “Barcelonagate”. I’m just assuming because the rules are that he was before me in the hall and I wasn’t present. After that, I spoke, and he could not attend,” Deputy Minister of Justice Emil Dechev told BTV.

“The rules of the monitoring group are such that I cannot talk in detail about the conversations themselves, but what they were interested in was what our ideas are for judicial reform, the newly adopted law, which provides for an effective investigation in criminal cases, including an investigation of the Attorney General from an independent magistrate,” Dechev pointed out.

“They were interested in our opinion on ‘Barcelonagate’, the newly introduced judicial review of the prosecution’s refusals to open pre-trial proceedings for serious crimes,” he added.

The EP listened to Geshev for 20 minutes, this is what he told journalists in Strasbourg

“According to the leaked information, he talked about Barcelonagate, but what exactly he said, I have no idea. His conversation with the MEPs was no more than 15 minutes”, stressed the deputy minister.

In his words, this commission is important for Bulgaria, because it depends on it whether the monitoring will be dropped or not. “My impressions are that they will mark a decisive positive step. These are my impressions,” Dechev said.

He commented that it is reasonable for the president to rule within a week on the removal of the chief prosecutor. According to him, if it takes more time, there must be motivation on the part of Radev.

“The activity of the chief prosecutor is late, because he is active in cases that have been talked about for a long time,” said the deputy minister.