At its Human Rights meeting on 11-13 June, the Committee of Ministers examined the case of Miroslava Todorova v. Bulgaria. The applicant in this case is a judge who, in her previous role as president of the main professional association of judges in Bulgaria, criticised the Supreme Judicial Council (“SJC”) and the executive in relation to various topics related to the judiciary. The SJC opened disciplinary proceedings against her, imposed a reduction in her salary as disciplinary sanction, and then dismissed her from office, on the ground that there had been delays in her processing of cases as a judge. The dismissal from office had been provisionally implemented for a year until it was set aside by the Supreme Administrative Court (“the SAC”). The applicant was ultimately sanctioned by a two-year demotion to a lower-level court. The European Court found that the disciplinary proceedings and sanctions against the applicant had disproportionately interfered with her freedom of expression and pursued the purpose to penalise and intimidate her because of her criticism (violations of Article 10 and Article 18 taken together with Article 10 of the Convention).
Due to the nature of the violation found, the Committee previously had called for reinforced guarantees against the exercise of undue influence on the Judicial Chamber of the SJC in the context of disciplinary proceedings against judges. In response to these calls, in December 2023, the Bulgarian authorities adopted amendments to the Constitution establishing a new SJC for judges in which the majority of the members are elected by their peers, as recommended by the Venice Commission. At its examination of the case in June, the Committee welcomed this constitutional reform.
Moreover, the Committee noted with interest the draft of a new Judiciary Act of March 2024, and called for its rapid adoption, to implement the above constitutional reform. It noted positive proposals in this draft law on creating a role for the judiciary in nominating and electing the Inspectorate to the SJC (a body that has also competencies in disciplinary proceedings again judges) and a proposal to create a nomination committee to assess candidates for members of the SJC to be elected by Parliament, so as to further limit the risks of inappropriate influence on disciplinary proceedings. It encouraged the authorities to consider the Venice Commission’s recommendations on clearly delimiting the powers of the Inspectorate to the SJC and on the clarity and foreseeability of rules on disciplinary liability of judges.
Impact of the European Convention on Human Rights in Bulgaria
