The Constitutional Court of Bulgaria has ruled against a significant portion of the recent judicial reform amendments to the Constitution. The Court deemed many of these changes unconstitutional, particularly those that proposed dividing the Supreme Judicial Council into two separate entities: the Supreme Judicial Council and the Supreme Prosecutor's Council. Consequently, this ruling nullifies all related changes affecting the structure and powers of these councils.

Additionally, the Court has invalidated provisions regarding the investigation of the chief prosecutor in the event of criminal conduct, as well as changes that sought to limit the powers of the official cabinet by law. The amendments concerning the president's ability to select an acting prime minister from a restricted list of senior civil servants and the provision allowing deputies to hold dual citizenship were also rejected.

Among the judges, there was a division of opinion. Judges Pavlina Panova, Mariana Karagyozova-Finkova, Tanya Rajkovska, Atanas Semov, Yanaki Stoilov, and Sonia Yankulova agreed that these changes were unconstitutional. On the other hand, judges Konstantin Penchev, Filip Dimitrov, Nadezhda Dzhelepova, Krasimir Vlahov, Borislav Belazelkov, and Desislava Atanasova found them to be constitutional. The final decision was signed by judge Borislav Belazelkov, along with dissenting opinions from Belazelkov and Atanasova, as well as Penchev on specific articles.

The Constitutional Court's review was prompted by a request from the President of Bulgaria and 48 members of the 49th National Assembly to assess the legality of the amendments introduced by the Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Constitution.

Following the Court's decision, Kiril Petkov expressed his concerns on Facebook, questioning the integrity of Bulgaria's justice system. He argued that the current system perpetuates a "captured state" and fails to serve justice, suggesting that the only remaining reform is to allow for the investigation of the Prosecutor General. Petkov criticized the ruling as evidence of a system that maintains injustice and hindered the progress of necessary reforms in the country.

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