The Ethics Committee at Bulgaria's Supreme Judicial Council (VSS) decided Monday to initiate a self-referral and inspect Kokinov's case, asking the magistrate to appear for a hearing on May 13.Photo by BGNES
Bulgaria's Supreme Judicial Council (VSS) has dismissed Nikolay Kokinov from the post of Sofia City Prosecutor.
The resignation of Kokinov from the post of Sofia City Prosecutor was approved at an extraordinary sitting of VSS on Monday with 16 votes for, none against and no abstensions.
Earlier on Monday, Kokinov filed his resignation as a magistrate, but the motion cannot be put to a vote until the finalization of disciplinary action against him over breaches of the principle of random assignment of cases.
Apart from that, the Ethics Committee at VSS decided Monday to initiate a self-referral and inspect Kokinov's case, asking the magistrate to appear for a hearing on May 13.
The VSS Ethics Committee is expected to come up with a stance on the matter on May 13 after the hearing.
Kokinov filed his resignation from the post of Sofia City Prosecutor on Friday after the publication of wiretapped conversations between him, former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and former Agricultural Minister Miroslav Naydenov in which the three can be heard discussing options for obstructing court proceedings against Naydenov who faces charges of corruption and malfeasance in office.
The leaked transcripts of the conversations between Borisov, Naydenov, and Kokinov came against the backdrop of a wider 'Watergate'-style scandal involving alleged widespread unauthorized deployment of special surveillance devices against politicians and businessmen during the term in office of Tsvetan Tsvetanov as Interior Minister.
The scandal caused tensions to flare up in the heat of the campaign for the May 12 early parliamentary elections.