Military– The Court of Appeals has upheld the decision of the Sofia Military Court to terminate the trial in the espionage case, declared by the prosecutor's office to be an "unprecedented historical scandal", and returned the case to it for further work, defakto.bg reported.
From the reasons of the military judges, it is clear that the indictment failed to protect the thesis of "espionage" committed in favor of the Russian Federation. The Boennits do not understand with what actions the “intelligence“ carried out their espionage.
The case was widely publicized by the former chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev in 2021 and six were subsequently arrested for espionage in favor of Russia. They are accused under Chapter 1 of the Criminal Code as members of an espionage group, collecting information constituting a state secret for the purpose of issuing it to a foreign state, and placing it in the service of a foreign state in order to serve it as spies.
Πo this case, the Sofia Military District Prosecutor's Office named 74-year-old Ivan Iliev, identified by the indictment as the "President" of the group, as the head of the espionage organized crime group.
It also includes the deputy head of the budget department of the Military District. Πetp Πetpov, head of the security section in the parliament, the company of Ivan Iliev, lieutenant colonel. Dimitar Vlakhov, lieutenant colonel D. T. G., o.p. , Colonel Lubomir Medarov and Colonel Πetp Πetpol. “Pezidenta “ is also accused of inciting the theft of state secrets and their release to other countries, and two more – and for disseminating information of a military nature.
ΠThe prosecution claims that over the years Iliev has selected individuals to occupy key positions with access to classified information on Bulgaria and its partners from HATO and the EC.
The members of the group have used their official positions to collect classified, official and other relevant information, representing an interest for foreign intelligence and the payment arrangements, provided the information to the group leader. Subsequently, he and my wife provided it to an employee of the Russian Embassy in Sofia.
For the first time on March 1, 2022 The Sofia Military Court suspended the trial on the indictment filed for the “unprecedented“ affair and reopened the prosecution's case for procedural violations in the trial. After a year in custody, the court changed the measure of non-release from “Detention in custody“ to “Cash guarantee“ of four of the defendants.
Πr, that in the pre-trial proceedings, significant procedural violations were committed, which threatened the right of defense of the accused. For example, under the pretext that the case was secret, the lawyers were not presented with a decree to bring them to criminal liability, which is a significant obstacle to organizing the defense of the accused, the military judges noted.
At the beginning of 2024, the Military District Prosecutor's Office – Sofia filed the indictment for the second time in the Sofia Military Court, which again suspended the court proceedings and returned it to the prosecutor. It is now clear from the reasons of the Military Court of Appeal that there are again serious grounds for the case not to be admitted to court.