The Appeals Court in Veliko Tarnovo confirmed the ruling of the District Court in Lovech and refused to release Desislava Ivancheva early from prison. This is clear from a check of the court records.
The former mayor of the capital's "Mladost" district is serving a sentence for corruption, and the ruling on her request comes after a long transfer between courts and instances.
The three appellate judges - Kornelia Koleva, Krasen Georgiev (rapporteur) and Desislava Chalakova, ruled in a closed session, rejecting the request of Ivancheva and her lawyer Kalin Angelov to consider the case in an open session, at which they would appear. The appellate magistrates accepted the conclusions of the first instance that there is no evidence that Ivancheva has reformed. Their act is final, writes "Sega".
There are still problem areas that determine that Ivancheva must remain in prison in order to work on conscious and lasting reform. There is no lasting positive change in the behavior and way of thinking of the convicted person, the judges wrote. They also point out that Ivancheva has two active disciplinary sanctions, which they take as evidence that she has not reformed. She also had no critical attitude towards the act for which she was convicted.
As for Ivancheva's small child and sick mother, these circumstances are irrelevant to her possible early release, the three other appeal judges explain.
As of April 16, when the court in Lovech ruled, Ivancheva had served a total of 4 years, 11 months and 18 days and she has 1 year and 12 days left. The court ruling cites the opinion of the head of the Lovech prison that the convict does not show lasting attitudes for positive change and does not have a solid positive line of behavior.
"Problems are still observed in the main stage of serving the punishment "deprivation of liberty", namely internal resistance to the corrective impact and distrust regarding the requirements of cooperation, agreement and confidentiality; preference for activities that do not require significant resources and efforts, but guarantee maximum results and benefits for herself", the court ruling reads.