\u201cTo strike, to postpone, to delay, to fix and to conceal,\u201d these memorable instructions from the notebook of *Filip Zlatanov have a new eloquent addition: “To finish!”<\/p>\n
This is the word that the former Chair of the Sofia City Court (SCC), Vladimira Yaneva, uses to describe to former SCC judge Rumyana Chenalova the beginning of her own downfall. According to information she has been provided with, on Wednesday evening, February 11, 2015, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov had held a secret meeting with Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov and had instructed him to “finish her”.<\/p>\n
Earlier on the same day, the Prime Minister had ordered Justice Minister Hristo Ivanov to raise before the Supreme Judicial Council the issue with the large number of permits to use Special Surveillance Devices (SSD) approved by Yaneva in the case codenamed “Worms”. Ivanov had spoken with Boyko Rashkov, (Director of the Bulgarian National Bureau for SSD Control \u2013 editor\u2019s note), author of the report “Worms” (see here<\/a>) that exposed Yaneva. We learned later that this report \u201csimmered\u201d for two months on the desks of people in power until the time to \u201cfinish\u201d the boss of the SCC came.<\/p>\n Remarkably, Yaneva seems unperturbed by this totalitarian and corrupt management model, not resting on the rule of law, but on backstage meetings and appointments. As it will become clear later, the judge was looking for ways to “fix things” and avoid punishment through the same channels and the same methods.<\/p>\n I finish, you finish me, they finish us\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Yaneva\u2019s\u00a0 “finishing” was initiated after her chatting companion and colleague Chenalova attempted to \u201cfinish\u201d with several million the French company “Belvedere” and caused the indignation of the French ambassador. People started speaking openly that under the command of Vladimira Yaneva and her runners, the Sofia City Court has become a machine for contract “finishing” and “fixing” on the orders of people in power, lobbies, business interests. Two months after Yaneva, Chenalova was also “finished” and legal charges were pressed against her. Ultimately, the entire leadership of SCC was replaced, while the report on the administrative “exploits” of Yaneva and other judges contains shocking findings.<\/p>\n The \u201cfinishing\u201d procedure has a manifested and a secret side, as the story that Yaneva is telling Chenalova shows. The first happened in the Supreme Judicial Council on Thursday, February 12. Hristo Ivanov arrived at the meeting with Boyko Rashkov. The judiciary \u201capparatchiks\u201d, however, refused to take a stand because Rashkov\u2019s report was not declassified.<\/p>\n It was followed by a damning statement of Boyko Borisov who told reporters in Brussels that he wanted 400 years in prison for those found guilty in the case “Worms” because his then-Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov had received a four-year jail sentence. Borisov named precisely Yaneva as the one who must bear responsibility.<\/p>\n The secret procedure, however, was one that really worried the boss of the SCC. First, she was informed about a secret meeting between Borisov and Tsatsarov, where orders to “finish” her were issued. Second, she learned from a reliable source from the Legal World<\/em> site that the prosecution was preparing to indict her as early Thursday, February 12. The actual indictment happened a week later.<\/p>\n The week between the two SJC meetings has been crucial for the fate of Yaneva, who decided to put up a fight.\u00a0 Behind-the-scenes dealings were happening then in the judiciary and the executive that shatter the illusion of any rule of law in the country.<\/p>\n Yaneva mobilized her lobby in the SJC and according to her words, the Head the Supreme Administrative Court, Georgi Kolev, personally committed to her protection, as demonstrated by the already published recordings<\/a>.\u00a0 There were other meetings and bargaining with powerful individuals, about which you will learn in the sequel to “YanevaGate”<\/p>\n