Bulgarian Prosecutors Explain New Charges against Ex-Interior Min

Crime | June 24, 2013, Monday // 19:05
Bulgaria: Bulgarian Prosecutors Explain New Charges against Ex-Interior Min Bulgaria's former Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria’s former Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov was legally obliged to grant permission for the deployment of special surveillance devices after a court’s request, a spokesman of the Chief Prosecutor explained Monday.

The Chief Prosecutor’s spokesman, Borislav Sarafov, made a statement in connection to the latest findings that Tsvatanov refused to issue a warrant for the deployment of special surveillance devices during the investigation against the head of the Veliko Tarnovo regional unit of the Central Services for Combatting Organized Crime, RZBOP, Orlin Todorov.

Prosecutors say Tsvetanov violated the Special Surveillance Devices Act and the Penal Code by refusing the deployment of special surveillance devices. Charges are to be pressed against him by the end of July.

The spokesman of the Chief Prosecutor reminded that the law of deployment of special surveillance devices postulates the filing of a request to a district court to allow their use, which was present in the case of the Veliko Turnovo RZBOP head. In order for special surveillance devices to  be deployed, however, the interior minister has to grant a written permission to the respective bodies in the Interior Ministry.

The prosecution requested the removal of Tsvetanov’s MP immunity for a second time on Monday after the gathering of sufficient evidence during the pretrial investigation of the former head of the Central Services for Combatting Organized Crime, GDPOP, Stanimir Florov, that other persons had committed crimes, one of whom is Tsvetan Tsvatanov.
For this reason the supervising prosecutors from the Sofia City

Prosecution have prepared a proposal  to the chief prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov for a request to the 42th General Assembly to strip the lawmaker immunity of Tsvetan Tsvatanov and his summoning as a defendant in a crime under Section 288 of the Penal Code.

It has been established in the lawsuit that during the pretrial proceedings against Orlin Todorov a supervising prosecutor of the Veliko Tarnovo District Prosecution has prepared six requests for the deployment of special surveillance devices that have been ruled well-grounded by the head of the court and thus given a court permission.

The technical deployment of special surveillance devices is assigned to the respective prosecution under the Interior Ministry after the authorization of the Interior Minister. At that time, however, the then Interior Minister Tsvetanov refused to grant such a permit.

“Disregarding a judge’s permit of all six requests, signed by the head of the Veliko Tarnovo District Court, Mr. Tsvetanov has single-handedly stamped them “No”.  With this action he has no only violated his ministerial obligations, but has also impeded that collection of evidence for the uncover of the  serious crime, committed by Todorov and other persons, that could not have been gathered in another way. At the special directorate at the Interior Ministry no technical hurdles to the deployment of the special surveillance devices had existed, nor was a danger of their discovery present. Having in mind the collected evidence up to now, the prosecution is ready to file an indictment against Tsvetan Tsvatanov by end- July 2013, given the Parliament approves the revival of a legal prosecution against him. At the same time, the investigations of the other persons continue,” the Prosecution has stated.

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

Crime » Be a reporter: Write and send your article
Tags: Tsvetan Tsvetanov, special surveillance devices, eavesdropping, Sotir Tsatsarov, prosecutors, charges

Advertisement
Advertisement
Bulgaria news Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) is unique with being a real time news provider in English that informs its readers about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also publishes a daily online newspaper "Sofia Morning News." Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) and Sofia Morning News publish the latest economic, political and cultural news that take place in Bulgaria. Foreign media analysis on Bulgaria and World News in Brief are also part of the web site and the online newspaper. News Bulgaria