Bulgarian Constitutional Court judge Desislava Atanassova is under increasing pressure following allegations that she traveled on a private flight with Delyan Peevski, a politician facing sanctions, in April 2024. Calls for her resignation are rising from both members of the ruling party and opposition lawmakers. They argue that stepping down would be a fitting moral action while investigations into the alleged flight are underway. The situation escalated after Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev informed Parliament that Atanassova was on a private flight from Sofia to Dubai with Peevski.
The demands for a thorough investigation into the financial aspects of Peevski’s private flights have gained momentum, especially given his standing under U.S. and U.K. sanctions for corruption allegations. Lawmakers highlighted that Peevski had undertaken hundreds of outbound flights over the past eight years, many of which were on chartered aircraft. This scrutiny further intensifies the controversy surrounding Atanassova’s alleged involvement in one of these flights.
Atanassova, however, has refuted these allegations, asserting that her travels during the specified time were on commercial Turkish Airlines flights between Sofia and Istanbul, and she did not fly to Dubai. To back her claims, she has presented official travel records and passport data, labeling the accusations as untrue.
The Constitutional Court has acknowledged the need to review the information related to the case but clarified that it lacks the legal authority to remove a judge under such circumstances. Meanwhile, the authorities are investigating whether any official travel documents were tampered with as part of their ongoing inquiry.