On 20 October, the Director of Human Rights, Clare Ovey, and representatives of the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, visited Sofia. The delegation held meetings with the Deputy Minister of Justice, Ms Irena Borisova, representatives of the Ministry of Justice, judges from the Supreme Court of Cassation, prosecutors from the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor’s Office and representatives of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC). Discussions focused on recently achieved important progress and possible further measures for the execution of the Kolevi judgment, which concerns the lack of safeguards for the independent investigation of a Chief Prosecutor and persons close to him or her; the S.Z. group, which concerns a systemic problem of ineffective investigations; and the Miroslava Todorova case, which concerns the disciplinary sanction of a judge in 2011-2015 in retaliation for her criticism of the then Supreme Judicial Council and the executive power.
The delegation also met with representatives of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, the Ministry of Justice and the Ombudsperson’s Office to discuss the execution of the Yordanova and Others group of cases, which concerns the eviction of persons from unlawful dwellings on the basis of legislation not requiring adequate proportionality assessment.
