The politics of justice

Unlimited power (to harass)

Under Bulgarian law the state prosecution is a highly centralized, hierarchical and unitary structure under the reign of the Prosecutor General. He is selected by parliament for a seven-year term and during that time he has practically unchecked powers and absolute control over his subordinates and their actions.

Because of the overstretching of the principle which requires no political interference in the work of the judiciary, the Prosecutor General is not bound to answer for his actions to anyone outside of the judicial system. He only formally reports to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), yet the track record shows that during his four years in power Mr. Tsatsarov has never been questioned substantially by SJC members. Some revelations made by GERB strongmen Boyko Borissov and Tsvetan Tsvetanov the last time they were not in power in 2013-2014 show why this is the case.

"Dogan (Ahmed Dogan, the ex-chairman of DPS party) was the first to realize that if he owns a media empire and has control over the judiciary, he can reign", Mr. Borissov candidly pointed out in an interview at the beginning of 2014. Number two person in GERB, Mr. Tsvetanov, went even further, claiming in another interview that media mogul and businessman Delyan Peevski controls the SJC through Sotir Tsatsarov. Mr. Tsvetanov's revelation came after he was charged with crime three times in the one year while he was not in government anymore.

"Dogan (Ahmed Dogan, the ex-chairman of DPS party) was the first to realize that if he owns a media empire and has control over the judiciary, he can reign", Boiko Borissov, two times Bulgarian prime-minister

However, once GERB formed the second Borissov government in November 2014 and Mr. Tsvetanov became the leader of GERB's parliamentary group, all charges were either dropped or failed in court. Since then, the Prosecutor General has kept a relatively low profile, concentrating his efforts in fighting petty crime. In return, the ruling coalition simmered down the constitutional amendments that would have brought a degree of parliamentary accountability of Mr. Tsatsarov for his actions.

Through his deliberate actions and inactions Mr. Tsatsarov has been central to the political life in the country in the last four years.

In his first days of office he personally led a raid of special police forces into a printing house in Kostinbrod, where he found "fake" ballot papers for the parliamentary election of 2013 which was to take place the next day. The"Kostinbrod affair" never led to any arrests or convictions, and no proof of wrongdoing was found, yet it probably swayed the elections. And brought to power the Socialist-DPS coalition (the so-called Oresharsky government) that nominated Mr. Peevski for chief of the national security agency. Mr. Peevski, a notorious figure in the Bulgarian political landscape, until quite recently claimed almost no property or business activities. But he has been widely known as the treasurer of DPS. The party representing mainly the Bulgarian ethnic Turks has been an important swing player in parliament with a guaranteed presence. This has allowed it to build a firm clientele and to be unabashedly nepotistic.

This is not the only time Mr. Peevski's interests had coincided with Mr. Tsatsarov's actions. Once Hristo Bisserov, an ex-strongman in DPS, defected from the party, he found himself charged with tax evasion - just in case he considered opening up to the media about the internal affairs of the ethnic-business party. Mr. Borissov also was briefly investigated by the prosecution office. The investigation abruptly ended only a month after the Mr. Oresharsky government gave up power in the summer of 2014, setting the stage for Mr. Borissov's return to power.

Supporting the "vox populi"

Recently Mr. Tsatsarov has started toying around with politics in even more daring and direct ways.

In November 2016, alongside with the presidential election, Bulgarians voted in a referendum to change the electoral system. The referendum was initiated by Slavi Trifonov, a showman with political ambitions, and although it attracted huge popular support, it did not reach the turnout threshold that would have made it obligatory for Parliament to change the electoral code. Mr. Trifonov and his TV show script writers led a very determined and vocal campaign to push Parliament to pass the amendments approved in the referendum, and they got an unexpected ally - Sotir Tsatsarov. In a number of highly publicized actions, Mr. Tsatsarov supported the referendum and insisted that the members of parliament indeed have to accept the "vox populi". Interestingly, Mr. Tsatsarov has often recalled the "independence" of his own institution from any attempt for political control.

The Prosecutor General has used this mix of publicized actions at the right moment to keep different politicians in check during the first four years of his term. His actions, however, have never interfered with the interests of Mr. Peevski. And even more importantly, they have never led to any major successful anti-corruption investigation by the state prosecution - a gentle reminder that Bulgaria receives every year from the European Commission. Mr. Tsatsarov is also very successful in foiling all attempts for creation of an independent anti-corruption institution similar to the Romanian DNA. There is simply too much fear of the Prosecutor General's unbridled power for any major political party to muster the needed political will to limit it.