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The Sofia Court of Appeal has ruled that two members of the 'Octopus' gang are to remain under permanent detention, wile five co-accused are released on bail. Photo by BGNES
Sofia Court of Appeal has ruled that Aleksei Petrov and Marcelo Dzholotov, both members of the so-called "Octopus" group, are to remain in custody.
The five other alleged members of the gang have been released on bail of BGN 20 000 each, pending the probe and the trial. They are Anton Petrov aka The Hamster, Plamen and Yordan Stoyanovi aka the Dambovtsi Brothers, Momchil Krastev and Nikolay Velkov.
The suspects, including former DANS secret agent Aleksei Petrov, are charged with a wide range of criminal activities, including racketeering, financial crimes, and enticement into prostitution. A total of 14 men and women were initially arrested on February 10 in the police operation codenamed "Octopus".
Petrov has denounced the trial proceedings against him as political repression. He staged an impromptu press conference in the courthouse before Thursday's judicial proceedings began.
Earlier on Thursday, Bulgaria’s Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, had explicitly stated his view that a 12-year sentence would be the minimum each of the suspects should get.
The Minister refused to comment on whether the former Chief Prosecutor Nikola Filchev would be arrested as well. Filchev has already been interrogated over his alleged connections with Aleksei Petrov and the Octopus group when he was Chief Prosecutor in 1999-2006.
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