The prosecutor's office was ordered to pay BGN 20,000 compensation to former judge Rumyana Chenalova because of the illegal accusations of official crimes that were brought against her in connection with the “Belvedere“ and “Solo”, reported lex.bg.
This was decided by the Sofia Court of Appeal (SAC) at the second instance and increased Chenalova's compensation five times, which the city court had set at BGN 4,000.
Two years ago, the former judge filed a lawsuit against the prosecutor's office for BGN 200,000 just because of the accusations in the “Belvedere“ and “Solo”. According to them, the case against Chenalova was terminated already in 2017, and then only the trial for official and document crimes continued in the specialized courts, for which she was completely acquitted at the end of last year.
This development came about after Chenalova was found guilty by the now-closed special court only on the charge of document crime, but it was considered a minor case, and the statute of limitations had expired, so she was not punished for it either.< /p>
The scandal around her started in 2014, precisely around the “Belvedere“ case, when the then ambassador of France, Xavier Lapert de Caban, said that there were bad apples in the judicial system in Bulgaria, referring to the bankruptcy case filed against the subsidiaries companies of the French company “Belvedere”, in which Chenalova was the judge and she was accused of a crime in office.
In 2015, the judge was also accused of acquitting and releasing the double murderer from “Solo” Iliyan Todorov, delayed the prosecution's protest against his rescinded pretrial detention until the deadline expired and he remained free, after which he fled from justice. Todorov was then sentenced to life imprisonment. Only last year he was detained in Uzbekistan, and a month ago he was returned to Bulgaria to serve his sentence.
Back in 2017, the investigation into these cases against Chenalova was terminated on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence that she had committed a crime in the "Belvedere" case, and her act in the "Solo" case was deemed unconstitutional. Therefore, two years ago, she filed a lawsuit against the prosecutor's office only because of these charges, since the case on the other charges was ongoing.
In her claim, Chenalova recalls that she was called a “rotten apple” from the French ambassador that the noisy comments on the accusation of “Belvedere“ had a very negative effect on her, her colleagues avoided her, DANS employees regularly came to court, interrogated clerks, and after her removal from office, she withdrew into herself and drank sedatives.
Chenalova complains that her name has been associated with this case until now. The negative attitude of society, the collapse of her reputation as a judge and the suspicious and distant attitude of acquaintances, friends and colleagues changed her way of life, damaged her psyche and deprived her of expectations, plans and hopes. She was also dissatisfied with the reasons with which the case was closed, since it was not said that no crime had been committed, but that there was insufficient evidence. The accusation of “Solo“ it further upset her, and the investigation dragged on.
His decision is not final and can be appealed to the Supreme Court of Cassation.