The National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria [official website] approved [Focus Information Agency report] amendments to the Constitution [text] on Wednesday to reform the judicial system. At a third reading of the proposed amendments, 189 legislators voted in favour, 39 MPs voted against and one abstained. The constitutional amendments will split the Supreme Judicial Council into two colleges of judges and prosecutors, provide for the direct election of the magistrates and increase the powers of the Inspectorate. Former Justice Minister Hristo Ivanov commented [ConstitutionNet report] on the importance of continued judicial reform saying, “[n]o one should have ever thought we would exhaust all reforms that need to be implemented in the judiciary in one summer. This is about a third of the state power.” Critics of the reform suggest that the changes fell short of the recommendations made by the Venice Commission [official website], the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional matters, which suggested bigger changes [Sofia Globe report], particularly in relation to the prosecutor’s office.

The justice system in Bulgaria is in a continuing process of reformation. In May a group of 12 MPs in Bulgaria proposed an amendment bill [JURIST op-ed] to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Bulgaria with the purpose to introduce domestic criminalization of crimes against humanity. In March the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice proposed a bill [JURIST report] amending and supplementing Bulgaria’s criminal code to address growing threats of terrorism. In February Amnesty International reported [JURIST report] that Bulgarian authorities are failing to address hate crimes, despite the fact that Bulgaria’s criminal code criminalizes hate crimes under several constitutional provisions.