The European arrest warrant for Nikola Nikolov-Paskal remains in force

The Sofia Court of Appeal rejected the objections of the defense of Nikola Nikolov-Paskal, as well as those of the appellate prosecutor Emil Petrov regarding the illegality of the request for the issuance of a European Warrant for arrest and confirmed the decision of the SGS, which authorizes the issuance of a European Arrest Warrant for Nikolay Nikolov, reports the national television.

According to the court, there is evidence that Nikolov is in hiding and it can be assumed that he organized and led an organized crime group for smuggling, money laundering and bribery, in which the former Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Zhivko Kotsev, the former head of the "Customs" Agency participated ; Petya Bankova and father and son Marin and Stefan Dimitrovi.

According to the court, there are data that after he found out that he was being investigated, Nikolov purposefully hid, and there is data that he traveled from Greece to Serbia.