Ivan Geshev

Ivan Stoimenov Geshev (Иван Стоименов Гешев; born 19 December 1970) is a Bulgarian jurist who served as Bulgaria's Chief Public Prosecutor from 26 November 2019 until his dismissal on 15 June 2023.

From September 1994 to February 1995, he was operative functionary at Fifth District Police Department - Metropolitan Interior Directorate – Ministry of Interior.

In the period from February 1995 to April 2006 he successively held the position of Assistant investigator and Investigator at Sofia Metropolitan Investigation Service.

He worked as an investigator before becoming a regular prosecutor in 2006.

In the period from 17 April 2006 to 11 May 2012 Geshev worked as a Prosecutor at Sofia Regional Prosecutor's Office having higher rank of "Prosecutor at the Prosecutor's Office of Appeal" and was promoted to the rank of "Prosecutor at the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's Office and Supreme Administrative Prosecutor's Office".

Between May 11, 2012, and July 19, 2016, he was Prosecutor at Sofia City Prosecutor's Office.

Geshev was given a certificate for restricting the distribution and use of drugs, prostitution, child pornography, corruption, terrorism and expressed support for causes to the benefit of society, for the formation of humane models of behavior in the younger generation; Certificate and plaque "Giovanni Falcone" from the competition "A cowards die many times, a brave man dies only once", issued by the Embassy of the Republic of Italy and the Municipality of Blagoevgrad; Europol Certificate for a successful operation, conducted on 4.10.2016 in Plovdiv for dismantling an illegal printing house for the production of Euro banknotes.

From 19 July 2016 to 16 July 2018, Geshev was Head of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office.

Geshev previously served as Head of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office (July 2016-July 2018) and as Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor (July 2018 – 2019).

From 16 July 2018 until 18 December 2019, Geshev served as Deputy Prosecutor General at the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's Office.

Geshev was the only candidate proposed to succeed Sotir Tsatsarov as Chief Public Prosecutor of Bulgaria in 2019, which triggered controversy and public protests against his candidacy.

He was appointed to the position by Bulgaria's Supreme Judicial Council in late 2019, but his election was initially vetoed by Bulgarian President Rumen Radev.

The Supreme Judicial Council subsequently confirmed his appointment.

He was inaugurated on 18 December 2019.

In October 2019, the Supreme Judicial Council of Bulgaria elected Ivan Geshev as Prosecutor General of the Republic of Bulgaria.

Geshev was supported by twenty members of the council while four voted against him.

Ivan Geshev's nomination for General Prosecutor and the subsequent refusal of Minister of Justice Danail Kirilov to nominate a second candidate, which guaranteed Geshev's appointment, sparked mass protests in Bulgaria in the summer of 2019.

Those protesting demand Geshev's withdrawal from the competition for General Prosecutor.

"Geshev is a disgrace," "Resign" and "Mafia should go" were the slogans of the protests.

Political scientist Evgenii Dainov criticized the nomination: "Ivan Geshev clearly told us he will prosecute people from a list, without respecting the separation of powers. He will prosecute people who are inconvenient for him. He is extremely dangerous and he has revealed himself as the gravedigger of Bulgarian democracy".

Judge Zdravka Kalaidjieva, former judge at the European Court of Human Rights, is also concerned: "In his interview with the Bulgarian National Television, Mr. Geshev presented his views on the prosecutor's office as a repressive body against pre-selected ideological and economic opponents – views which are contrary to the principle of equality before the law, pluralism of opinions and free competition. He believes the prosecution is a body whose main purpose is to arrest and conduct show operations and convict people instead of sending the suspects of a crime before a court which can hand down a verdict".

Some analysts believed Ivan Geshev could have been a rocket carrier for a less public but equally controversial candidate who may be nominated after protests escalate.

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has already expressed his support for Member of European Parliament Emil Radev.

Prominent civil society members and NGOs, including the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, asserted that Geshev lacked the professional and moral qualities which are required for the position because of his record of abusing the law and human rights.

In response to the protests, colleagues of Ivan Geshev from the prosecution started a petition in his support.

There were many declarations of Regional Prosecutor's Offices and jurists who expressed their support for Geshev's nomination.

In November 2019, Bulgaria's Supreme Judicial Council voted to appoint him to the office with 20 votes for and 4 against.

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, however, refused to sign the decree formally inaugurating Geshev, remarking that his candidacy had been backed only by government-controlled institutions and that no other alternative was provided.

He called on the judicial council to revise their decision.

The council, however, voted in favour of Geshev a second time with the same vote margin, which triggered a constitutional requirement for Radev to sign the decree.

Stating that he would refuse to violate the constitution, Radev did so following a meeting with Geshev, but called for changes to Bulgaria's constitution.

Shortly before taking office, Geshev cancelled a meeting he had appointed with Bulgarian opposition leader Korneliya Ninova, after the latter announced that she would provide additional information to Geshev regarding a water availability crisis affecting Pernik.

He accused Ninova of using the institution for "political gains".

In 2020, the raid against the Bulgarian Presidency by the Bulgarian prosecution sparked mass protests demanding both the resignation of Ivan Geshev as Chief Public Prosecutor and the government of Boyko Borissov.

After a failed assassination attempt on 1 May 2023, which triggered a political scandal and open confrontation between Geshev, his deputy Borislav Sarafov and political figures including Boyko Borisov, Geshev was voted out of office by the Supreme Judicial Council, effective 15 June 2023.

Geshev graduated from the Academy of the Ministry of Interior, in Sofia.

Geshev was nominated for Prosecutor General by all eleven members of the Prosecutors' Chamber of the Supreme Judicial Council on July 22, including by the then Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov, whose term expired in January 2020.

Kirilov explained that he considers Geshev's nomination as one of the professional circles.

In his words, even if there were another nominee, the maximum support they would receive would be 14 votes.

"That would result in no election, no result of the election procedure. It would also mean the creation of a precondition for confrontation between the two chambers of the SJC, which I believe is absolutely undesirable and should not be allowed in any way and for any reason," the Minister said during the sitting.