The Sofia Appellate Court has revoked the 4-year prison sentence of former Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov over blocking the deployment of special surveillance equipment against Orlin Todorov, former head of Veliko Tarnovo's regional anti-mafia unit, and two other people.

Tsvetanov was sentenced to four years of imprisonment for blocking the requests for the use of special surveillance equipment by the Sofia City Court and the sentence was upheld by the Sofia Appellate Court.

However, the Supreme Court of Cassation (VKS) returned the case for retrial by a different judge panel of the Sofia Appellate Court.

The retrial by the Sofia Appellate Court ended in acquittal, according to reports of Sega daily.

After an additional round of examination of witnesses and collection of evidence, Tsvetanov was acquitted on all counts, according to a media statement of the court issued on Monday.

Monday’s decision of the Sofia Appellate Court is not final and may be appealed at the Supreme Court of Cassation (VKS).

Tsvetanov faced three lawsuits, including one concerning the obstruction of the use of special surveillance equipment, one for embezzlement, and one for the failure to exercise adequate control over the use of special surveillance equipment.

The lawsuit concerning the inadequate oversight of the deployment of special surveillance equipment ended in an acquittal.

As regards the case involving embezzlement to the tune of BGN 50 000, the courts of first and second instance issued acquittals, with the court of third instance yet to come up with a ruling, according to reports of dnevnik.bg.