Recommendations of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee for procedure for nomination of a Bulgarian judge at the ECHR

Sofia, 07 October 2007 – In connection with the first meeting of the Public Council that will discuss the procedure for nomination of Bulgarian candidates for the vacant post of Bulgarian judge at the European Court of Human Rights, the BHC sent the following recommendations for nominations of candidates to Justice Minister Tacheva.

1. The Council of Ministers or the Minister of Justice should adopt a regulation on the Rules. This will guarantee their public transparency in accordance with PACE Recommendation 1649 (2004).
2. In line with PACE Recommendation 1429 (1999) (para. 6.i) and Recommendation 1649 (para. 19.ii) these Rules should provide a publicly announced call for candidatures in the specialised press, on the web sites of the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Justice and press releases, sent out to the main ten electronic and printed media and the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency.
3. The Rules should provide the possibility for the candidates either to nominate themselves or to be nominated by other persons or organizations.
4. The Rules should provide for the publication of the candidatures and nominations on the Internet pages of the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Justice.
5. The Rules should provide for the setting up of an ad hoc expert commission of human rights professionals from the spheres of civil society, judges, attorneys, academicians. The commission should be set up after consultations with representatives of these groups.
6. The expert commission should conduct hearings with all candidates and nominees to establish their professional expertise in the sphere of human rights and their moral qualities.
7. The expert commission should issue a motivated conclusion for the selection of three candidatures and nominations. The candidatures/nominations should include at least one woman. The conclusion should be published on the Internet sites of the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Justice.
8. The Deciding Body for the selection of the three national nominations (Council of Ministers or the Minister of Justice) should be obliged to take into consideration the conclusion of the Expert Commission, without being bound by it.
9. The Deciding Body should approve the three national nominations with a motivated act wherein it will motivate every deviation from the conclusion of the Expert Commission. The selected nominations should include at least one woman.