The Sofia City Court dismissed the court proceedings in the general criminal case "Blagomir Kotsev" and sent it to the Supreme Court of Cassation for consideration of the existence of grounds for its transfer to another, equal court, Nova TV reported.
The order is not subject to appeal or protest. The court noted in its reasoning that all five defendants, as well as 25 out of a total of 28 witnesses, are from Varna. This motivates the conclusion that the case should be sent to the Supreme Court of Cassation for consideration for consideration by another court.
We recall that on November 13, the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment with the Sofia City Court in the case against the mayor of Varna, Blagomir Kotsev.
It became clear from it that he and four other people are going to court for a criminal association for receiving bribes. The prosecutor's office has filed the indictment against the mayor, municipal councilors Nikolay Stefanov and Yordan Kateliev, Kotsev's media advisor Antoaneta Petrova, as well as businessman Ivaylo Marinov. They will be responsible for 12 cases in which they wanted a percentage of public procurement contracts won to be returned to them.
After all the defendants received the materials collected by the Anti-Corruption Commission, which is leading the investigation, they requested that it be terminated. However, the prosecutor's office decided that there was enough evidence of crimes committed and brought them to trial. Thus, Mayor Blagomir Kotsev, municipal councilors Nikolay Stefanov and Yordan Kateliyev, the Municipality's PR officer Antoaneta Petrova and businessman Ivaylo Marinov will face Themis.
According to the indictment, between July 2024 and May of this year, in various configurations, they exerted influence in order to receive bribes. The case also includes a deputy, about whom the prosecutor's office has not yet said anything specific, except that he is a member of parliament in the 51st parliament. In the meantime, Blagomir Kotsev remained at the head of Varna Municipality, which he is supposed to lead from the pre-trial detention center.
We recall that the mayor of the seaside capital was arrested on July 8 during an operation by the Anti-Corruption Commission. He has been in custody since then. The other accused - businessman Yordan Marinov - was released in July, and since the beginning of October, municipal councilors Yordan Kateliev and Nikolay Stefanov have been under house arrest.