Bulgarian Arrested under EAW Issued by Czech Authorities

Bulgaria's Varna District Court arrested Thursday Vladimir Yakimov on the basis of a European Arrest Warrant issued by the Regional Court in Prague.

Yakimov was declared guilty of fraud and counterfeiting money in the Czech Republic last summer.

The Czech authorities insist on the arrest and extradition of the 23-year-old Varna citizen in order for him to serve his 4-year term which has taken effect, according to a media statement of the Varna District Court.

In end-June 2012, the judicial authorities in the Czech Republic declared Yakimov guilty of using fake EUR 100 banknotes to pay at a filling station in Prague which caused damage of CZK 2440 to the filling station assistant.

Several days later, Yakimov, together with another Bulgarian citizen, visited another filling station in another region of Prague and asked that his 2 fake banknotes of EUR 100 be converted into Czech Crowns, as a result of which the filling station assistant suffered damages worth CZK 6900.

On Thursday it emerged that Vladimir had been tried in absentia in Prague without receiving a notification for the criminal proceedings against him.

The Varna District Court ruled that the EAW featured all obligatory details.

The document says that Yakimov is entitled to a retrial in his presence with guaranteed defence.

The Varna-based court ruled that Yakimov was at is at risk of fleeing from custody if released from custody because he had been convicted of causing a traffic accident and he often traveled to EU countries.

Yakimov will remain in custody until the review of the EAW in substance.

Yakimov declared Thursday that he wanted to be handed to the Czech authorities but that statement is to be reviewed in the next 7 days by another judge panel of the Varna-based court which will examine the request for Yakimov's extradition in substance.