Former Finance Minister and co-chair of "We continue the change" Assen Vassilev won the defamation case against GERB MP Delyan Dobrev in the second instance. This became clear after a decision of the Sofia Court of Appeal, which completely overturned the previous decision of the city court in favor of Dobrev, informs Sega.
Magistrates Maria Georgieva, Assen Vodenicharov and Valentin Boykinov awarded Vassilev compensation in the amount of 25,100 leva. The amount is a partial claim of the total claim for 250,000 leva. This means that if the decision is confirmed as final, the former Finance Minister will be able to claim the rest of the amount, since the court has already recognized the existence of damage.
The basis of the legal dispute is a series of media appearances and publications by Delyan Dobrev on Facebook. The specific reason for the conviction is the status of the GERB MP, in which he uses the phrase "white-collar fraudsters" and makes suggestions about financial abuses.
"The total damage for the short rule of the white-collar fraudsters amounts to tens of billions of leva. These colossal funds for our poor country leaked to the Putin regime and probably Kiril and Assen through accounts in Switzerland, the Netherlands, offshore, etc.,", Dobrev writes in the incriminating publication.
In the same text, he adds: "Such a leak of national capital did not occur even during the creation of foreign trade companies in the last years of communism. Simply put, then they robbed Bulgaria, now they have robbed it doubly and triply".
The appeal judges do not share the opinion of the first instance that such statements fall within the scope of permissible political rhetoric. According to them, the adjective "white-collar criminal" is offensive in its meaning, even if it is uttered in a state of emotion.
The court accepts that Assen Vassilev was affected by the accusations against him for selfish participation in power and receiving commissions in foreign accounts. According to the magistrates, the amount of 25,100 leva is fair compensation for the plaintiff's emotional discomfort.
Delyan Dobrev will also have to pay the accrued interest from January 7, 2023 to the present, as well as 13,156 leva in costs of the case before both instances. The decision is subject to appeal to the Supreme Court of Cassation.