Bulgaria's Galevi Brothers Quiet Election Triumph

The July 5 elections in Bulgaria are history. The results are long-known and the landslide victory of now Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov's Citizen for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party is already old news. Bulgaria has a new parliament, new cabinet; all seemingly hard at work to change the system and chase the evil away.

But in the euphoria's aftermath, there are two jackpot winners no one is talking about. The notorious Galevi brothers, the two murky businessmen, who made local and even international headlines until the very end of election night, suddenly disappeared from the media and public attention.

Undoubtedly neither of them seems to be bothered by this fading out of fame or to be pushing in any way to be back in the spotlight.

Plamen Galev and Angel Hristov, aka the "Galevi brothers", who have been investigated over a long period of time for various felonies in the southwest town of Dupnitsa, (in the Kyustendil Region), most notably for racketeering and organized crime, must be simply savoring their victory.

In mid-June, after the Central Electoral Commission registered them to run for parliamentary seats at the general elections, the Galevi received immunity from prosecution, walked out of jail as free people, stirring media frenzy.

They failed to win seats in the new 41st General Assembly, but nevertheless their apparent defeat turned into a triumph over the country's legal system - the victory no one is talking about.

On July 6, the very day after the elections, the Sofia City Prosecutor, Nikolay Kokinov, announced that since the two did not make it to the Parliament, they no longer had immunity, but there was also no reason to put them back in jail because they were released on bail.

"In order to ask for their detention they must violate bail - fail to appear before the court, or hide," Kokinov explained.

Those who discussed the Galevi issue, mainly the immunity and much less its aftermath, include prominent Bulgarian and foreign journalists, outgoing US Ambassador, Nancy McEldowney, and Michael Geier - her German counterpart, who is also leaving Sofia. They blamed the sensational election run of the two alleged large-scale criminals on the flaws of Bulgaria's legislation.

With all due respect, I dare to disagree.

Bulgaria has enough laws and good enough laws. The absurdities, such as the Galevi jail release, are not the result of bad laws or the lack of laws. They are rather caused by the lack of their reinforcement, backed by either the corruption or the incompetence of the investigators, the prosecution and the magistrates.

According to Article 53 (1) of the Election of Members of the Parliament Act, during the election campaign registered Parliamentary candidates have immunity i.e they cannot be detained and tried except in case when they have been caught at the scene of a serious crime.

Article 25 of the Bulgarian Penal Code lists the reasons for halting penal prosecution, one of them being the immunity of the defendant.

Article 220 further points out that those with immunity cannot be charged and tried until after the immunity has expired, penal prosecution for individuals with immunity must be suspended, and all undertaken bail measures must be rescinded.

Article 58 defines 4 such measures: 1. a written warrant signed by the defendant; 2. bail bond; 3. house arrest, 4. permanent detention.

The obvious question here, even for someone without any legal background and expertise, is why the measure was CHANGED from detention to bail? The Penal Code explicitly specifies that for individuals with immunity the imposed measure must be revoked; there isn't anywhere a mention about altering the said measure and imposing a different one.

In addition, in mid-July Bulgaria's Supreme Court of Cassations ruled the Galevi case must be tried by the Kyustendil District Court. The decision is final and cannot be appealed The Prosecutor argued in vain the local court was not the competent authority and that in order to assure a fair and objective trail the case should remain with the Sofia City Court.

It might be worth pointing out that Kyustendil is the region where the Galevi brothers enjoy huge popularity and support... The trial and its outcome remain to be seen.

Two law enforcement faux pas apparently set the Galevi brothers free: 1. the alleged mafia bosses spent months in jail without being tried and sentenced, which made their registration as MP candidates and their immunity possible; 2. the measure was unduly changed from detention to bail allowing them to remain at large even after the said immunity expired.

Was this a clever defense attorney trick or the deed of corrupt and/or incompetent magistrates? We might never know the truth. But it certainly seems the legislation is not the one to take the blame; it is rather the work of the investigators, the prosecution and the magistrates, lacking both quality and promptness.

"In the public perception, justice in Bulgaria is slow, sometimes inequitable and in some cases subject to influence and interference," the recently released 2009 report of the European Commission points out.

All eyes and hopes are now on the new GERB minority center-right cabinet. Time will tell if they will fulfill the promise to bring changes. But the time to sweep the closet has definitely arrived.

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