“An urgent reaction was necessary on my part, because Nikola Nikolov-Paskal has serious health problems, which as his defender I cannot ignore“, said lawyer Dimitar Markovski, who is before the National Investigation Agency in Sofia.
“His health condition is a legal fact that is important and is related to circumstances related to whether the prosecution should make a request for the imposition of the most severe measure of detention. The defense has presented extensive medical documentation that certifies what Mr. Nikolov's serious health problems are. The reason for his presence on the territory of Serbia also becomes clear“, explained Markovski.
“The reason and the reason is that he is looking for specific specialists there. And another circumstance that should not be forgotten – that the initiative for the urgent surrender of Mr. Nikolov comes from him“, the lawyer also said.
He did not want to give more information about what exactly Nikolov's health problems are, since “this would be very unprofessional and unethical“.
“I hope the prosecutor's office will reconsider its procedural position, to consider and assess whether it should come to such an extreme request for imposing such a measure – detention. We must not forget that he spent an extremely long time in custody and under house arrest“, recalled Markovski.
He stated that they did not give three and a half hours of explanations yesterday.
“I would not dare to comment on what explanations he gave at this stage, because firstly it would be speculative, because I do not know the other materials in the case, and secondly – I would not dare to comment on the content of evidence that is under conditions of investigative secrecy“, said Dimitar Markovski.
The charges against Nikolov are several – participation in an organized group, several separate charges of smuggling and possession of excise goods, he specified.
When asked if there was written evidence of an acquaintance between Pascal and the politicians mentioned in the case, Markovski said that he did not know the officials, including those who were brought to criminal responsibility.
“He does not know Bulgarian politicians either, so this mythology that is being built around his image will be very well illuminated in the course of the proceedings itself“, said Nikola Nikolov's defense attorney.
“I spoke with Mr. Nikolov yesterday and he was very surprised by his work history. He works with companies that trade in goods, so he did not have any official qualifications in the system. This is another myth that will be exposed“, said Dimitar Markovski.
Nikolov did not work as an employee at the “Kapitan Andreevo“ border checkpoint,“ he said.