The Sofia City Court postponed the case against Kiril Petkov for official crimes to 2026. The reason is that Petkov's lawyer Ina Lulcheva requested all materials and documents from the pre-trial proceedings in order to familiarize herself with them in full, after which they would be included in the materials in the case, indicated "Nova TV".
Until today's court hearing, they were not provided to her due to the large volume of 48 volumes. The court granted the defense's request and scheduled the next hearing for January 27, 2026. "If possible, this should be done as soon as possible," said the prosecutor in the case, Angel Kanev.
Kiril Petkov is accused of official misconduct in his capacity as Prime Minister. He was brought to court for exceeding his authority on March 17, 2022 in the city of Sofia, in his capacity as an official holding a responsible official position - Prime Minister. He ordered the head and deputy head of the "Investigation and Methodological Management of the Investigation" department at the General Directorate of the "National Police" (GDNP), as well as the chief investigating officer in the department, to carry out actions contrary to the law.
„My case is progressing normally. It will be shown that I did not commit a crime“, Kiril Petkov told journalists upon leaving the courtroom.
“In today's court hearing, we included the testimonies of all other witnesses, for whom the defense agreed to proceed with the expedited procedure and the abbreviated trial. The defense expressed a desire to be fully acquainted with the entire pre-trial proceedings and this is more reasonable”, explained Prosecutor Kanev to the media.
He added that four people will be questioned in the courtroom. "In addition to these two who appeared today, there are two more witnesses who in the past held various positions in the General Directorate of the National Police, and at the moment I think they do not work in the Ministry of Interior system," he added.
The two witnesses who were supposed to be questioned during today's court hearing were returned. They will be called again after the New Year, after the materials on the case from the pre-trial proceedings are added.