Bulgarian Judge Miroslava Todorova, Chair of her country's Judges Association, has ruled out incompetence as a possible reason for her controversial dismissal on Thursday.

In a press conference, the dismissed Judge said she did not want to be portrayed as a victim, even though she may have been the target of political repression.

"I don't feel like a victim, since there are mechanisms for protection," she explained.

Todorova's dismissal is widely believed to have been triggered by her criticism of the Supreme Judicial Council and the libel suit she filed against Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov.

Todorova was dismissed by Bulgaria's Supreme Judicial Council on disciplinary grounds (unreasonable delay of proceedings).

She was accused of writing motives in the course of 4 years and 8 months, leading to the dismissal of a kidnapping case on grounds of prescription. She was also involved in presiding over a murder case, where she wrote motives in 4 years, and was further probed for writing motives in the case against drug lord, Vasil Manikatov, in 2 years and 5 months.

"I do not deny the delay on the cases," Todorova rold reporters on Friday.

"I believe the violation is a fact, I feel deeply ashamed, but I don't think that I am incompetent and that I have delayed them due to incompetence," she declared.

She reminded that Judges in Sofia have been overloaded with cases, as the Bulgarian Judges Association has already established.

Todorova also stated that she had to work overtime, since her access to a computer was limited.

In February, Todorova filed a libel lawsuit against Tsvetanov, as he had publicly accused her of incompetence and of patronizing organized crime because of the delayed presentation of the written motives in the aforementioned Manitakov case.

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