Sofia City Court has classified the trial over the release of Aleksei Petrov, a former undercover agent and an alleged ringleader of a crime group, who was arrested earlier this year.

Aleksei Petrov, one of the most controversial and mysterious figures of the country's transition, was arrested in the middle of February on charges of money laundering, racketeering, drug trafficking, bribery and tax fraud.

A total of 14 men and women were arrested in the middle of February in the special police operation codenamed “Octopus”, which targeted a large-scale organized crime group. The crimes of which Aleksei Petrov and the other defendants are accused have been committed in the period 1997-2010.

On Thursday, in contrary to the law and the common practice, judge Emiliya Koleva from the Sofia City Court did not let journalists in the court house.

All the judges form the Sofia City Court have signed an agreement on which cases should be classified. According to this document, the implementation of special investigative printouts does not mean that the trial should be closed for the public.

Trials are closed for the public when they present information, which is a state secret. However, all the magistrates have agreed that it is not necessary to classify the whole process, but only the parts of it that present confidential information.

According to unofficial information, after Petrov has been arrested for five months, the Prosecutor's Office has finally decided to present as an evidence his file as an agent of the National State Security Agency.

In order for this evidence to be a reason for classifying the trial, it has to contain confidential information and this has to be announced publicly by the judge.

So far, all the trials against “Octopus” have been open to the public.

It is not known whether the judge will let journalists hear the court's final ruling on whether Petrov will be released or remain behind bars.

The request by Petrov to be freed dates from June 29 and even the date of the trial has not been officially announced, although the court's practice is to announce the cases of public interest.

Since the court house has been closed for the public, it is not clear whether Petrov wanted to be freed due to his 5-month arrest or due to his health condition. He has been treating an old trauma in the police hospital.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!