site.btaMilitary Prosecution Office Presses New Charges against Land Forces General

Military Prosecution Office Presses New Charges against Land Forces General

Sofia, September 16 (BTA) - The military prosecution office Wednesday announced that it has pressed new charges for embezzlement and malfeasance in office against General Dimiter Shivikov.

Gen. Shivikov was originally charged in April with abuse of office following a tip-off that he had used service persons under his command to redo his home. His classified information clearance was automatically cancelled, and he had to resign as Commander of the 61st Stryama Mechanized Brigade, headquartered in Karlovo (Central Bulgaria).

Probing the original charges, the prosecutors found evidence of two more cases in which the general has abused his office and overstepped his power as commander of the Stryama Brigade. He was also found to have embezzled property during a mission in Afghanistan. These materials will be used in a new pre-trial procedure against the general.

During the period from March 2014 to June 2015, Gen. Shivikov took over the powers of Commander of the Land Forces and assigned for use by a person from a Karlovo hunting and angling society a concrete pond for breeding trout. No contract was signed and the person using the pond paid no rent for the facility.

Gen. Shivikov has in his battle with prosecutors some outspoken defenders. About two months after he was initially charged, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said, according to the verbatim record from a cabinet meeting: "Following an anonymous tip-off to the military police, one of the most liked NATO generals, with two missions in Afghanistan, has quit the army." Borissov asked the Defence Minister to do his best to help the general without interfering in the judiciary work. In a commentary on the matter, Justice Minister Hristo Ivanov said that "the problem is that we maintain the military justice system, which has no reason to be there. They wonder how to invent a caseload so as to justify their existence."

Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov has dismissed all criticism against the military justice system.