A sick lawyer postponed the court's decision on whether the former head of customs Petya Bankova remains in custody. This became known today in the courtroom. Bankova's husband, Delyan Tenev, stated that lawyer Adelina Natina was ill and presented a sick leave, BTA reported.
The document is dated today and is valid until April 15.
There are new materials in the case, said the chairman of the court panel, Galya Georgieva. She pointed out that Natina told a court official earlier today that she would come to read materials, but did not say she was sick.
Natina will be fined BGN 500 because she did not notify the court in time and it is not clear whether her condition allows her to appear in court, the court wrote in its ruling.
The lawyer of the other accused, Stefan Dimitrov, Ivaylo Naydenov, requested the recusal of judge Galya Georgieva because of her words before the parliamentary commission “Martin Bojanov” in the parliament. Naydenov quotes Georgieva's words, “The Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor's Office are above everything”.
In my opinion, only the law is above everything, said Naydenov and expressed his bewilderment as to how this measure fell on Georgieva.
Galya Georgieva clarified that she told the commission something else and refused to go.
On April 4, the director of the “Customs” Petya Bankova was detained for 72 hours and accused of participating in an organized criminal group for influence peddling, smuggling and bribery with three other people. These are Stefan Dimitrov, Marin Dimitrov and Nikola Nikolov.
Two days after the arrest, the city court kept Bankova and Dimitrov in custody permanently.