site.btaUPDATED Bulgaria Cannot Extradite to Turkiye Ex-Border Police Officers Tried There for Turkish National's Death

If Turkiye requests the extradition of four Bulgarian nationals under the European Convention on Extradition, Bulgaria will be unable to grant the request because, under its domestic legislation, this country does not extradite its citizens to non-EU Member States, Bulgaria's Supreme Prosecution Office said in a press release on Thursday.

The four individuals in question: Mihail Tsonkov, Zhivko Petkov, Nikolai Petkov and Nikolai Kostov, are being tried in their absence by the High Criminal Court in Kirklareli, Turkiye, in connection with the death of a Turkish national in 2008. At its latest hearing of the case, on January 16, the Turkish Court ordered the detention of the four Bulgarians for questioning.

It an incident on April 17, 2008, the four Border Police officers, who were patrolling Bulgaria's territorial waters in the area of Rezovo, apprehended three Turkish poachers fishing for turbot. As one of the offenders, Yalcin Ercan, resisted arrest, Tsonkov inadvertently fired a shot which wounded Ercan who eventually died.

The victim's family took the matter to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which concluded in 2014 that it was a case of a fatal accident following a chance event and that the Bulgarian border police officer did not use excessive violence and did not break the rules for using firearms.

The incident was investigated in Bulgaria, and the Sliven Military District Prosecution Office and the Sliven Military Court concluded that the four Border Police officers had not committed a criminal offence, the Supreme Prosecution Office said in Thursday's press release.

It noted further that its International Department had been informed by the Interior Ministry's International and Operational Cooperation Directorate that at this point two of the Bulgarian nationals are wanted by an Interpol Red Notice initiated by the Turkish authorities. The prosecution office has not received official information that a Red Notice has been issued for the other two as well.

In 2018, the Turkish authorities requested the extradition of the four, but the Burgas Regional Court refused to grant the request.

Later on Wednesday, Bulgarian Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov met with the four Bulgarian nationals who have been indicted in Turkiye, Stoyanov's Ministry said in a press release.

Stoyanov assured them that his Ministry has taken all necessary legal actions to protect the Bulgarian citiznes. The four Bulgarians, who in 2008 performed their official duties in the area of responsibility of the Burgas Regional Directorate of the Border Police, thanked the Minister, saying that the meeting had been exceedingly important for them. 

Stoyanov committed to raise the issue at the political level. He will brief Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mariya Gabriel on the action taken.