site.btaBoyko Borissov Sentenced to Pay Maya Manolova Lv 10,000 for Slander

Sofia, June 9 (BTA) - Boyko Borissov, whose third term as prime
minister ended a month ago, has been sentenced to pay 10,000
leva in compensation to Maya Manolova, leader of a citizens'
platform called Izpravi se.BG, the Sofia Regional Court reported
 on Wednesday. The ruling is appealable before the Sofia City
Court.

Manolova had filed a 15,000 leva claim for "slanderous,
insulting and false statements" made by Borissov in a bTV
interview on November 1, 2019. The statements were made between
the two rounds of voting in the local elections. Borissov said
Manolova had had a secret meeting with Roma in Voluyak, near
Sofia, to make arrangements for spreading the lie that
Borissov's GERB party had tried to bribe Manolova to support
their candidate Yordanka Fandakova for re-election as Sofia
Mayor.

The judge in the case reasoned that no evidence was presented to
 support Borissov's statements. The statements implicated
Manolova in crimes against the political rights of citizens, but
 by that time she had not been investigated or sentenced for
such crimes.

The court dismissed Manolova's claim against other remarks by
Borissov, which she considered slanderous and insulting as well.
 NV/VE