The Sofia City Court (SCC) remanded municipal councilors Yordan Kateliyev and Nikolay Stefanov in custody, BTA reported.
During the hearing, the defense and the defendants requested a lighter measure of restraint, which is currently "detention in custody". The prosecutor's office stated that no new circumstances have occurred that would lead to the removal of the prerequisites for the removal of the measure of restraint "detention in custody" for both defendants. There is an increased risk that, if the measure is changed to a lighter one, the defendants will commit another crime, the state prosecution indicated.
The court motivated the imposition of the measure with the high degree of public danger, the gravity of the accusation, the manner in which the crimes were committed, and the data from the investigation that Stefanov and Kateliyev played the most active role. In its ruling, the court also stated that the person with immunity in the case must be individualized, because the MP cannot be a person with an unknown identity.
The measure can be appealed, and the lawyers of the two defendants stated that they will appeal the court's decision.
On July 12, the Sofia City Court considered the measures for the detention of the mayor of Varna Blagomir Kotsev, municipal councilors Yordan Kateliev and Nikolay Stefanov, and businessman Ivaylo Marinov, and a few hours later ruled on "detention in custody" for the four. The mayor of Varna Blagomir Kotsev remains in custody, the Sofia Court of Appeal decided on July 18. The magistrates then ruled that both municipal councilors Yordan Kateliev and Nikolay Stefanov should remain in custody. Only businessman Ivaylo Marinov was released on bail because, according to the court, there was no evidence of a connection with the other three.
A day earlier, lawyer Ina Lulcheva, defense attorney for Blagomir Kotsev, told journalists that "some unknown MP has appeared in the organized crime group". According to her, there cannot be an unknown MP, because there are 240 of them and they are known. Later that day - July 11, Ahmed Kokoev and Georgi Ivanov, prosecutors in the investigation against Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev, the two municipal councilors Yordan Kateliev and Nikolay Stefanov, and businessman Ivaylo Marinov, recounted the words of witness Plamenka Dimitrova during the hearing to determine their preventive measures. In one of her interrogations, Dimitrova linked the percentage of the value of a public procurement contract requested from her to the chairman of "We Continue the Change" and MP Asen Vassilev. She had learned this from her conversations with two of the defendants.