Brazil-Jailed Bulgarian Champ Begs for Christmas House Arrest

Crime | December 16, 2011, Friday| 1294 views

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Bulgaria: Brazil-Jailed Bulgarian Champ Begs for Christmas House Arrest

Boevski will have the chance to voice his objections against the charges in ten days. File photo

Bulgaria's former Olympic weightlifting champion Galabin Boevski, who was detained in Brazil and charged with drug trafficking offenses, will ask to be allowed to go on house arrest for Christmas.

His Brazilian lawyer Leonardo Pereira announced that a petition to this effect will be sent to the magistrates from the court in Sao Paulo.

"The trial is proceeding as expected. We are trying to collect more evidence to prove in court that Boevski is innocent," Leonardo Pereira said in an interview for TV 7.

"Boevski is a sportsman and a great person. He has been involved in humanitarian work and has the record of a perfect employer. The whole context of his life gives the case added value and positive characteristics," he added.

Bulgaria's former Olympic weightlifting champion Galabin Boevski, allegedly recruited as a mule to smuggle cocaine from Brazil to Western Europe, faces 15 years in jail if convicted of drug charges.

Boevski, who was detained at the end of October in Brazil and accused of carrying nine kilos of cocaine in his luggage, was officially charged at the beginning of the week with drug trafficking offenses. The world known champion heard his indictment via a video conference call from the prison he is staying at.

He will have the chance to voice his objections against the charges in ten days.

The defense is determined to press for Boevski's extradition and eventual trial in Bulgaria, citing the International Convention on Psychotropic Substances, which the two countries have signed and which has supremacy over state laws.

The lawyer's statement clashes with the opinion of Bulgarian high-ranking officials, who have ruled out the extradition of Galabin Boevski to his home country, saying there is no prisoner transfer agreement between Bulgaria and Brazil.

The 36-year-old Boevski won the gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in the 152-pound category. He was banned for eight years by the International Weightlifting Federation for doping in 2004.