Controversial Head of Bulgaria's Sofia City Court Faces Penalty over Systematic Delays
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SCC Chair Vladimira Yaneva faces a penalty over systematic delays in setting trial dates. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency
Vladimira Yaneva, the controversially appointed head of the Sofia City Court (SCC) boasting a family friendship with Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov, faces a penalty for a backlog of 43 unreasonably delayed trials and motivation statements overdue by 2-8 months.
Yaneva's penalty may be anything from reprimand, dismissal, salary reduction, demotion to lower rank.
The recently appointed SCC head was found to have set a total of 31 first court dates outside the three-month term provided by law, with 6 of the delays spanning 2 or 3 months.
According to the Inspectorate at the Bulgarian Supreme Judicial Council (VSS), the findings show that Yaneva systematically fails to observe mandatory deadlines.
A check of Bulgarian Capital weekly, cited by Dnevnik Daily, has revealed that Yaneva has not set a trial date since March 2011.
One of the trials delayed by Yaneva involves a settlement between the prosecution and two men charged with drug possession.
Petar Petkov and Krasimir Damyanov pleaded guilty in exchange for a suspended sentence and probation.
While Yaneva dragged her feet on approving the settlement with the prosecuting authority, Petkov got caught again with a bunch of packages of amphetamines and marijuana.
If the settlement had been approved on time, Petkov's suspended sentence would have immediately turned into effective imprisonment.
In end-June, the VSS Inspectorate detected four violations in Yaneva's handling of the high-profile case against the former executives of municipal real estate company Sofiyski Imoti.
The current SCC head was found to have bought properties from Sofiyski Imoti as a proxy of a company owned by her father, thereby violating the ban on commercial activities for magistrates.
However, the VSS Inspectorate is not authorized to interfere in cases of conflict of interest and the only commission which can do this is not yet operational.
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