Underworld Boss on Trial: Where is Filchev?

Crime | June 27, 2006, Tuesday // 00:00
Underworld Boss on Trial: Where is Filchev? Zlatomir Ivanov (R) attended court Tuesday, accompanied by his bodyguard (L), who felt no shame in unbuttoning his shirt all the way down. Photo by Nadya Kotseva (Sofia News Agency)

Sofia Court postponed for September 28 the trial against suspected underworld boss Zlatomir Ivanov for exhorting a foreign businessman.

The court cited lack of clarity in the facts, garnered in connection with the case.

The court session would have remained more than uneventful but for the provocative way Ivanov approached the journalists. "Where is Filchev?," he said, referring to the former chief prosecutor and current ambassador to Kazakhstan Nikola Filchev. He expressed his amazement at the authorities' failure "to tell the truth about Filchev", even after a senior judge flagged evidence of his mental disorder.

At the end of March prosecutors raised charges against Ivanov and his accomplice claiming that in February 1999 they threatened with murder and property confiscation their rival Mohamed Abdul Al Hirshi. The two forced Al Hirshi to sign documents for giving them a number of luxury cars and goods.

In the meantime the extorted businessman was poisoned and died. The testimonies that he gave during the investigation however are still valid and can be used in the courtroom.

In Tuesday's court session, the wife of the late Mohamed Al Hirshi retracted her testimonies, given during the pre-trial phase in 1999. Yet she confirmed that her husband has given money to Zlatomir Ivanov.

If found guilty Zlatomir Ivanov and his accomplice face from five to fifteen years in prison, a fine ranging from BGN 5,000 from 15,000 and confiscation of half of their property.

On May 22 the court postponed the trial and decided to repeal the ban imposed on Ivanov to travel abroad, because his son needed medical treatment in Germany.

Zlatomir Ivanov and his driver were arrested last November on suspicions of masterminding an assassination attempt against the late underworld boss Konstantin Dimitrov, dubbed Samokovetsa.

They were released a month later after the court found no irrefutable proof for the commitment of the crime.

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