Prof.Laurent Pech and Dr Radosveta Vassileva of the Rule of Law Clinic of the CEU Democracy Institute and Judges for Judges with the assistance of Dr Joelle Grogan have submitted a Third Party Intervention (TPI) before the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Nedelchev and Tsarigradska v. Bulgaria (Application no. 15889/23).
This case concerns the covert surveillance of a civil-society activist (Nedelchev) who participated in public protests related to the functioning of the Bulgarian judicial system, and of a judge (Tsarigradska) who publicly expressed her views about various issues relating to the functioning of the Bulgarian judicial system in her capacity as member of the managing board of the Bulgarian Judges Association. The common thread of this case is the existence and arbitrary use of covert surveillance targeting critics of the Bulgarian judicial system whose functioning – or lack thereof – has been undermined by persistent systemic rule of law issues.
The TPI focuses on the covert surveillance of judges, in particular in the light of mounting evidence that judges in Bulgaria are being specifically targeted by covert surveillance.The key conclusion is that Bulgaria is experiencing systematic, large-scale, and abusive covert surveillance targeting critical voices – specifically judges – motivated by ulterior purposes. This widespread wiretapping creates a severe chilling effect that directly undermines judicial independence and impartiality. Furthermore, this practice is greatly exacerbated by broader state capture and systemic rule of law deficiencies. This specific rule of law context must inform the review of individual applications relating to the system of covert surveillance in Bulgaria.