The Sofia Court of Appeal have decided to follow the example of the Sofia City Court and classify the trial against Aleksei Petrov, a former undercover agent and an alleged ringleader of a crime group, was was arrested earlier this year.

Petrov's lawyers, Ina Lulcheva and Vasil Vasilev, have stated that there was no reason for classifying the trial because there would not be a display of classified documents. Petrov himself has also demanded an open trial.

However, the Court of Appeals has accepted the prosecution's demand for classifying the trial because Petrov's record of service would be provided as an evidence.

According to the defense, the classified record of service only states the positions Petrov has been appointed to throughout the years as an agent of the National State Security Agency (DANS).

The defendants has also stated that his record is incomplete and is lacking information about his assignments for “Kremikovtzi”.

Trials are announced as closed for the public when they present information, which is a state secret. With this reason judge Emiliya Koleva from the Sofia City Court did not let journalists in the court house during the trial over the release of Petrov on July 8.

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.

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