The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) has refused to nominate representatives of the Bulgarian judiciary to participate in the International Commission for Documenting and Establishing Russian Crimes in Ukraine.
This was announced by the Minister of Justice Nadezhda Yordanova in her Facebook account.
An international investigation into war crimes in Ukraine began in March after 41 countries appealed to the International Criminal Court. Germany has launched its own investigation, and Poland is investigating aggression. On March 4, the UN Human Rights Council voted to establish an international commission of inquiry to document war crimes and human rights abuses.
In early April, Bulgaria received an invitation from Poland to include Bulgarian experts in the international commission.
The commission will include doctors, forensic specialists, pathologists, lawyers, prosecutors, police officers, forensic scientists and other experts. The Commission will work on the territory of Ukraine, in cooperation with its authorities. She is expected to prepare a report, which will be made public.
The Minister of Justice Nadezhda Yordanova points out that the ministry has sent a letter to the SJC with a call, in the opinion of the magistrates, to consider the possibility of including representatives of the Bulgarian judiciary in the commission.
The SJC considered two options today. One provides for the invitation to be taken into account, as it is considered inappropriate to appoint representatives of the judiciary to the International Commission. The second envisages the SJC agreeing in principle to participate in the commission by sending the information to the chairman of the Supreme Court of Cassation and the chief prosecutor with a request to appoint judges and prosecutors to join the panel.
Without debate and unanimity, the SJC decided to accept the summons and would not send representatives of the judiciary to the commission of inquiry.
“Empathy and justice must be defended through concrete action. The challenge of Russian military aggression in Ukraine obliges, in every aspect, the Bulgarian state to be at the height required by the principles of the rule of law and solidarity of the actions of the international community. The SJC was not at that height, “Yordanova commented on the decision.
