„We have requested all the documents on the case, we have addressed the relevant committees, as required by law. Mostly to the Minister of Justice - she appointed this committee. Then there is a medical report. Our decision entirely rests on that.“
This was stated in the program „Face to Face“ on bTV, President Iliana Yotova in connection with the pardon of drug dealer Ognyan Atanasov, known as the “Escobar of Petritsk“.
“The only thing we knew were the official documents we had from the court and his sentence from 1999“, she specified.
“I knew nothing about this man until 2023 - who he was and why he was called that. He was not in prison, he had not been in prison for 20 years“, said Yotova.
The president specified that she knew about his sentence in Greece and stated that this act does not cancel sentences or rehabilitate.
„Our only decision was based solely on a medical report“, said Iliana Yotova.
„Surely, if someone somewhere had told me that this person would first come to life, because according to the medical report he should not be able to move at all – I would hardly have made this decision“, added the president.
„This particular activity, which is assigned by the Constitution to the presidential institution, is almost not spelled out in the laws, if we look at it from the point of view of whether and how these expert opinions are made. Everything is a procedure“, explained Yotova.