Parliament’s Legal Committee Ends VSS Hearings With All Four Prosecutor-College Candidates Drawn From Judges, Not Prosecutors
All four candidates put before deputies — Ivan Kalibatsev of the Plovdiv District Court, Krasimir Komsalov, chairman of the Pazardzhik District Court, Milena Karagyozova, deputy head of the Veliko Tarnovo District Court, and Stefan Millev of the Sofia City Court — are judges, and all four were nominated by deputies of the ruling "Progressive Bulgaria," Sega reported.
Questions Shift From Influence Circles to Personal Connections
Deputies from the DB party asked earlier candidates about the influence groups known as “the Eight Dwarfs” and “the Notary,” but for Komsalov the question took a different turn: DB MP Atanas Atanasov asked whether he knows Prime Minister Rumen Radev or the prime minister’s cabinet chief, Nikolay Koprinkov. Komsalov answered that he does not know them, Sega reported. Neither Komsalov nor Kalibatsev answered the question of whether Boyko Borisov chose Sotir Tsatsarov as prosecutor general — the notorious “You chose him” remark by former Sofia city prosecutor Nikolay Kokinov.
Stefan Millev’s Past Under the Tsatsarov-Era Council
Asked by Nadezhda Yordanova about rumors that ballots were handed out at the previous professional-quota election on Tsatsarov’s orders, Millev denied organizing vote-buying and said he would not insult colleagues by distributing ballots.
160 Votes Needed, and Progressive Bulgaria Cannot Reach Them Alone
The “catch” in the election is that VSS members are chosen by a two-thirds majority, meaning at least 160 votes in the plenary chamber. Progressive Bulgaria does not have enough deputies to elect VSS members on its own, Sega reported. Velichkov rejected claims that his party intends to boycott the procedure, saying the parliamentary group requested full information on all signals and disciplinary proceedings against candidates on October 7 — while noting that a signal against one candidate was sent only after the hearings ended, on September 23, bTV Novinite reported.
Parallel procedures for the professional quota are running on their own timetable: prosecutors have already chosen their four representatives, judges will vote this weekend, and investigators vote on November 21.
Questions Readers Are Asking
How many members does the Supreme Judicial Council have, and who elects them?
The VSS has 25 members.
What happened to Ivan Kalibatsev’s 2022 candidacy?
Kalibatsev ran for the VSS in 2022 from the judges’ quota but failed to gather enough votes; that council was never renewed. In 2022 a Plovdiv district judge filed a signal against Kalibatsev’s management methods as court chairman, and disciplinary proceedings were later opened against the whistleblower at Kalibatsev’s request, though the sanctions were overturned by the Supreme Administrative Court, Sega reported.
What did the candidates say about the next prosecutor general?
The open question remains whether any candidate will face a late-stage challenge: Velichkov said a signal against one candidate arrived only after the hearings closed, and he warned that court appeals could follow, particularly over the professional quota, bTV Novinite reported.
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