site.btaSupreme Court Acquits Ex-Interior Minister Tsvetanov in Surveillance Refusal Case

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Supreme Court Acquits
Ex-Interior Minister Tsvetanov
in Surveillance Refusal Case


Sofia, January 26 (BTA) - By a final judgment, the Supreme Court of Cassation has upheld the acquittal of former interior minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov in a case in which he was charged with an offence against justice.

The two lower courts sentenced Tsvetanov to four years' imprisonment for frustrating an investigation against Orlin Todorov, former director of the Veliko Turnovo Regional Unit for Combating Organized Crime, and another two suspects by refusing to order the deployment of special surveillance means despite authorizations issued by the President of the Veliko Turnovo District Court and six requests by a prosecutor of the Veliko Turnovo District Prosecution Office who supervised the pre-trial proceeding.

According to prosecutors, in this way Tsvetanov breached his duties as minister of interior and obstructed the collection of evidence of a serious offence committed by Todorov and other persons which could not be collected by another method.

The Supreme Court found Tsvetanov not guilty because no evidence had been collected in the case to prove that he refused the deployment of the special surveillance means for the purpose of preventing Todorov's criminal prosecution.

When the appeal initially reached the Supreme Court, it reverted the case to the Sofia Appellate Court (SAC), arguing that the court had been biassed. When the case was re-appealed before the SAC, Tsvetanov was acquitted of all charges. PK/LG