site.btaMalfeasance Indictment against Former Kardzhali Mayor Hassan Azis Submitted to Court

An indictment for malfeasance in office have been submitted to court against former long-time Kardzhali Mayor Hassan Azis, said the prosecution service. He and three members of his staff will be tried for embezzling BGN 78,704 (some EUR 39,000) via two contracts for procurement of firewood.

Azis and the three indictees are believed to have acted in complicity for the presumed offence during a period from December 2017 to January 2019, said the prosecution service. During that time, they did not exercised enough care for the management and preservation of the property of Kardzhali Municipality, causing significant damage of a total of BGN 91,163 from the two contracts.

The former mayor and three other indictees have been freed on recognizance not to leave.

The case will be tried by the Kardzhali District Court. 

Hassan Azis was a mayor for five consecutive terms until 2023 when he lost the elections to the current mayor, Erol Myumyun. 

Azis was a ranking member of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) and Kardzhali is widely considered a MRF stronghold. When his party split up in the summer of 2024, Azis stayed in the camp of those loyal to MRF Honorary President Ahmed Dogan.