The District Court in the city of Plovdiv has dismissed the claims brought by Bulgaria's former Tsar, and former Prime Minister, Simeon Saxe-Coburg, and his sister, who declared ownership on the former Krichim royal residence.

The trial dates from 2007 when Simeon Saxe-Coburg and Maria Luisa claimed in their lawsuit that their ownership of the Krichim residence cannot be litigated; still the state, represented by Todor Petkov, Plovdiv District Governor, does it. The reason was that there was no law for the restitution of the property of the Bulgarian royal family, which was seized in 1947 by the communists.

On Friday, the Court ruled that Krichim was not a property, gained personally for the former Tsar, as a private entity. The magistrates decided that the Commissariat is a state institution that is funded by the Bulgarian state through its annual laws on state budget, adopted by the Parliament.

According to the Court, the purpose of the Commissariat is to ensure proper monarchical institution. There is a clearly distinction between the option of the Tsar to personally have rights on properties and on the Commissariat to have right on properties as a state institution, which is serving the monarch.

The court expertise has shown that the agricultural land from the Krichim palace is 260 acres and the forests are 111 acres.

The Court's decision could be appealed in the Court of Appeals.

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