Bulgaria’s Top Prosecutor Ousted, Stirring Suspicion of Trade-Off

Bulgaria's Chief Public Prosecutor Ivan Geshev (R) walks before the meeting of the Supreme Judicial Council in Sofia, Bulgaria, 08 June 2023. Bulgaria's Supreme Judicial Council will consider two requests for early termination of the mandate of the Prosecutor General. The first request is for breach of official duties in connection with the investigation of the explosion against his motorcade, and the second one for a statement by Geshev, in which he called Bulgarian unnamed politicians 'political trash'. EPA-EFE/VASSIL DONEV

The Supreme Judicial Council voted on Monday to terminate Geshev's mandate as Prosecutor General over a remark he made in mid-May when, dismissing calls to resign, he referred to "political garbage" in the Bulgarian parliament.

The remark was apparently directed at the once-dominant GERB party of former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and its ally, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms. 

Geshev was appointed in 2019 under the last GERB government, when he was the sole candidate for the job. His dismissal comes after GERB reached a governing accord with its chief opponents, the pro-reform We Continue the Change, prompting speculation of a trade-off over the judiciary.

Geshev had been heavily criticised by civil society and opponents of GERB for a lack of progress in a number of high-profile cases, including the suspected Novichok poisoning of arms dealer Emiliyan Gebrev in 2015; he remained largely silent in the face of myriad allegations against Borissov and his allies concerning corruption and money-laundering and opted not to investigate a number of politicians sanctioned by the US in 2021 and this year for alleged corruption.

In late May, however, Geshev ordered prosecutors to look into allegations of money...