G. Kolev, judge: Bulgarians will always be frustrated by the courts

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INTERVIEWS

G. Kolev, judge: Bulgarians will always be frustrated by the courts

Понеделник, 18 Януари 2010

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G. Kolev, judge: Bulgarians will always be frustrated by the courts

On July 1 last year, Judge Georgi Kolev was elected chairman of Sofia District Court.

Interview: Milan Nikolov

- Mr. Kolev, it has been a long time since you took the Sofia District Court. What has changed in this period?

- The judiciary is conservative, change is difficult and this can be easily explained. No magistrate is a supporter of radical change. It is no accident that it takes countries centuries to developed and preserve institutions and rules of operation. In this line of thought, radical change cannot be expected from Bulgarian magistrates. The main goal is to improve the organization of work and increase the effectiveness. I changed the work organization in some departments of the SDC. I have enacted several structural reforms in terms of the number of administrative staff and the administrative department that unfortunately still exists at the moment. I say unfortunately because, in general, administrative departments should not exist at district courts, but only at regional ones. With us, the vast amount of administrative matters motivates us to sustain it. I have made structural changes at the commercial and business department, which were united into one, to improve their work. There has been improvement of the work in terms of registering political parties, which happens only at SDC. The clerks have been made more efficient. There is a fully functional site, where you can check the status of any case, and it is very easy to use – all you have to do is register.

-The court must be independent. Do you feel Minister of Interior Tsvetan Tsvetanov has been interfering too much lately, with advice on the institution’s work? Do you feel any pressure?

- Personally I do not feel any pressure, and none of my judges feel such. They are concerned only with cases. This is my personal opinion, of course. Tsvetan Tsvetanov holds an important position, but let's not forget that he is, after all, a politician.

- What are the biggest obstacles facing judges at Sofia District Court?

- Our biggest problem is lack of adequate facilities and the insufficient number of courtrooms. I think the Criminal Panel Counsel should dispose of at least one courtroom per two judges, which means 15 courtrooms for the criminal panel in total. At the present, however, Sofia District Court has a total of 14 rooms for all 114 judges (presiding over civil, criminal and other cases).

- Is publicizing the grounds, on which panels issue verdicts a way to regain the confidence of society in the work of your colleagues?

- Yes, but I do not think this is directly linked to public trust. This rather leads to greater awareness. Trust is gained over many years.

- What aspect of judicial proceedings are you not happy with?

- The fact that there is a shortage of panels, which results in postponing verdicts. We are simply unable to issue verdicts in accordance with provisions of the Penal Code. The terms of issuing verdicts are simply unacceptable. These terms should be reduced optimally.

- You said that there was a shortage of judges. Are there plans to appoint new staff?

- I asked for an increase of the posts of judges, but at the moment, in light of budget shortfalls, this simply cannot be implemented. The workload of judges at the SDC compared to other courts is 1 to 8. That is, we have eight times more cases. The salaries judges receive are almost equal everywhere.

- Appointing specialized boards that deal with matters of high public interest has been discussed…

- It has been discussed; as you know, the Supreme Judicial Council ruled to appoint such panels by June this year to review specific crimes. We need amendments to the PC in terms of the type of cases they will review. Such amendments will be very hard to adopt.

- How do you think judicial reform should be carried out? All at once or gradually? And what risks do immediate reforms carry?

- Judicial reform is a very general term, used obsequiously by the press, but does anyone actually know what judicial reform means? Is judicial reform effective work of the court? This is not reform; this is something every one of us in the system is responsible for. I do not think of any structural reform can achieve effectiveness of the judiciary. There is also something else. Throughout the world people say speedy and objective justice is the most expensive kind. Are Bulgarians willing to pay the price? I do not think so, at this stage. I think radical and quick change is the way out. 50% of the people will always be unsatisfied because they will lose cases. We Bulgarians always look for answers outside of ourselves; we never think we are to blame, so we blame the judiciary. This is something we should change about ourselves.

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