A well-known Bulgarian judge, who is a harsh government critic, has appealed the acquittal of the country's interior minister in a high-profile libel trial.

The appeal has been filed by Miroslava Todorova's lawyer – Daniela Dokovska.

The Plovdiv Regional Court acquitted October 18 Bulgaria's Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, in the libel case initiated by Miroslava Todorova, Chair of the Bulgarian Judges Association (BJA).

Todorova was obliged to pay the Court fee in the amount of BGN 500.

Miroslava Todorova, a judge at the Sofia City Court (SCC), filed a libel lawsuit against the Minister with the Sofia Regional Court on February 6 2012.

The step was triggered by two consecutive interviews of the Interior Minister in which he accused her of incompetence and of patronizing organized crime because of the delayed presentation of the written motives to an eight-year jail sentence handed down to drug lord Vasil Manikatov.

Todorova insisted that Tsvetanov had voiced untrue and defamatory allegations about her work as a judge and as BJA Chair.

It emerged later that at the time Manikatov received the 8-year jail sentence from Todorova, he was supposed to be behind bars for another crime, which is what she says made her think it would be permissible to delay writing her motives.

Meanwhile, the prisoner was released on parole, and since Todorova's verdict was not effective, he remained at large, which became the grounds of Tsvetanov's accusations.

Both Tsvetanov and Todorova did not appear in person for either of the Court sessions.

The material presented by private TV station bTV proved to be "technically unfit", which prevented the expert witness from preparing a phonoscope analysis.

Todorova was not seeking a monetary award and if the Interior Minister was found guilty, he would have been penalized with a public reprimand and a fine of BGN 5000-15000 which will go into the State coffers.

The proceedings were ordered relocated to the Plovdiv-based court by the Supreme Court of Cassation (VKS) due to the fact that Todorova is a judge at the Sofia City Court.