site.btaJustice Minister Orders Review, Suspends Sofia Central Prison Head over Evelin "Brendo" Banev Release Bid

The outgoing Justice Minister Georgi Georgiev has ordered a review of the grounds cited by the Sofia Prison head in proposing the conditional early release of inmate Evelin Banev, the Justice Ministry said in a press release on Monday.

Earlier on Monday, the head of the Sofia Central Prison, Borislav Chorbanski submitted to the Sofia City Court (SCC) a proposal for the conditional early release of inmate Evelin "Brendo" Banev, the court told BTA. At the time the proposal was filed last week, four years and nine months remained of Banev’s sentence. SCC is to schedule a hearing to consider the request.

The Justice Ministry said Chorbanski will be temporarily suspended pending a review of whether the statutory requirements for conditional early release have been met. The Ministry added that Chorbanski failed to inform either the Director of the General Directorate Execution of Sentences or the Justice Ministry that he had filed the proposal.

In the reasoning for his proposal, Chorbanski notes that Brendo has served the majority of his sentence and that it has fulfilled its purpose.

Under Article 437(1)(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code, a proposal for conditional early release may be submitted by the regional prosecutor or the prison warden. Article 70 of the Criminal Code requires that the inmate show evidence of rehabilitation and have served at least half of the sentence, and at least two-thirds in cases of dangerous recidivism. Outgoing Justice Minister Georgi Georgiev ordered the review to verify compliance with these provisions.

Evelin "Brendo" Banev was arrested in 2012 in a Bulgarian-Italian law enforcement operation and in 2013 received a 20-year prison sentence in Italy for involvement in an international cocaine-trafficking ring. In July 2018, the Sofia City Prosecution Office issued a European Arrest Warrant to locate him so he could serve a six-year prison sentence, after he was not found at his known addresses and his whereabouts were unknown.

Banev, who has been wanted under Interpol Red Notices since 2018, surrendered to the Bulgarian authorities on June 24, 2024 and was taken to Sofia’s Central Prison. In the days that followed, he asked the Bulgarian court to let him serve in Bulgaria the sentences imposed on him in Italy and Romania, and Continue the Change–Democratic Bulgaria sought a parliamentary hearing of caretaker Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov over Banev’s appearance at Sofia Central Prison.

At the hearing in Parliament on June 28, 2024, Stoyanov said the Interior Ministry had information that Banev entered Bulgaria by plane between late March 2022 and early June 2022.

In April 2025, SCC ruled that Banev will serve a total prison sentence of ten years and six months in Bulgaria for crimes committed in Bulgaria, Romania and Italy, with time already served in detention in Italy and in Sofia deducted from the term. The court noted that the Italian authorities had not provided the reasoning behind their sentence and that communication with them had been slow.