The Sofia City Prosecutor's Office will have to redo the indictment in the "NAPleeks" case, if he wants it to be heard by the court. This follows from a decision of the Sofia Court of Appeal, which confirms the act of the first instance to terminate the proceedings and return it to the prosecutor's office due to omissions, "Sega" reported.
The Sofia City Court ruled in November of this year. The prosecutor's office appealed, and on April 16, appellate judges Galya Georgieva, Krasimira Raicheva and Stefan Milev (reporter) issued their final decision.
The defendants in the case are Christian Boykov and the owner of "TAD Group" Ivan Todorov. The two are accused of a computer crime, as well as a crime against the Republic with the aim of instilling turmoil and fear in the population.
The case started in the Specialized Prosecutor's Office, but after its closure, it was transferred to the city prosecutor's office. The investigation lasted four years before the state prosecution brought it to court. Once, the investigation was returned to the prosecutor's office for the elimination of violations.
Now the judges explain that the indictment must state the crime committed by the accused. And that means factually describing the series of events on the basis of which the prosecutor alleges a crime.
"This obligation cannot be "displaced" through applications in the case by the prosecutor's office, an approach in the circumstantial part of the indictment to prevail citing witness statements (from page 4 to page 15) and expert conclusions. In other words, it is important for the definition of the subject of proof in the judicial phase for the prosecutor to state unequivocally what the facts established (and presented) by him are, and not who states what and what expert conclusions he gives," the appellate court's ruling reads.
It remains unclear to the court what the prosecution claims about Todorov. It is not clear whether the two defendants had a common intention only for the computer crime or also for the crime against the Republic.
Both for the court, which is about to consider the case on its merits, and for the defendant, who should organize his defense, it is not clear whether under the wording of this accusation of aiding and abetting by "procurement of funds" one must understand the vital meaning of the term "means" or it is about its criminal-legal meaning. However, this case would also logically raise the question of what "means of the crime" are, for example, the provided room and internet connection, the magistrates also explain.
And the first instance had also established that some of the instructions given to the prosecutor's office during the previous return of the case were still not fulfilled.
On July 15, 2019, it is understood that the data of a total of 6,074,140 natural persons - 4,104,786 living Bulgarian and foreign citizens, and 1,989,598 deceased - were leaked from the NRA databases. Shortly after, the owner of the cyber security company "TAD Group" was arrested. Ivan Todorov and his employee Kristiyan Boykov. They were charged with cyber terrorism. The commercial director of the company, Georgi Yankov, was brought to criminal responsibility for inciting the hacker attack. However, Yankov was not brought before the court, as the case against him was dismissed.
If Todorov and Boykov are found guilty, they face 5 to 15 years in prison.