Natalia Kiselova explained the chronology surrounding the receipt of the controversial document, concerning the case with Russian journalist Alexander Nevzorov. She confirmed that the National Assembly registry office had received a letter signed by the then acting chairman of the State Agency for National Security, Denyo Denev.
After reviewing the text, Assoc. Prof. Kiselova considered that it should not be in the public registry office, but was sent to the secret one.
"My understanding as a lawyer was that since it was about information that contained the names of employees of the State Agency for National Security," it should not be in the mails of the members of parliament," Kiselova explained in the studio of "Denyat ON AIR".
She specified that the documents in the public registry office are scanned and sent automatically to the emails of all deputies, which in this case would threaten the security of the employees. When asked whether the concealment of the document was not a deliberate provocation, Assoc. Prof. Kiselova stated that the reasons for such a sending by SANS could be both incompetence and provocation. However, she emphasized that its goal was solely to protect the state interest.
"When it comes to protecting the interests of the state, the people who worked on this case must be protected", she was categorical on Bulgaria ON AIR. Assoc. Prof. Kiselova categorically denied the accusations that she deliberately concealed the report from party leaders or President Rumen Radev.
She explained that the document was not addressed to anyone in particular, except for the Speaker of Parliament, and by law she had the right to restrict access to it.
Kiselova added that the then Deputy Prime Minister Atanas Zafirov (who was also in the leadership of the Bulgarian Socialist Party at the time) should have been familiarized with it by the then Prime Minister under the Law on the Protection of Classified Information.
She pointed out that the new Commission for Control over the Services has the full right to hear the current Chairman of SANS and to give MPs access to the document if they request it through the official procedure. At the end of the conversation, the topic of Stoyan Mavrodiev, who was arrested in Serbia, and his leaked testimony was also raised.
Assoc. Kiselova expressed skepticism about his quick extradition to Bulgaria and drew a parallel with the long-standing case of banker Tsvetan Vassilev in Belgrade.
"It is very possible that we are in a situation where almost every court session in Belgrade we expect to be given an opportunity and to be returned, but there is a similar situation with Tsvetan Vassilev. People who deal with big money usually have good legal advisors," she commented.
She concluded with the hope that both the missing money and Mavrodiev himself will be brought to justice in Bulgaria, although she admitted that she is not optimistic about a quick resolution.