site.btaBulgarian European Prosecutor Reports Threats from Senior Prosecutors, Political Leader

Caretaker Minister of Justice and Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Yankulov has received a tip-off from European prosecutor Teodora Georgieva about pressure and threats from senior prosecutors and a political leader. This transpires from a press release by the Justice Ministry saying that Yankulov is seeking to meet with the European Commissioner for Justice and the leadership of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO).

According to the press release, the report submitted to him by Teodora Georgieva, speaks of "pressure, threats, and undermining of the authority of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office by senior officials from the Prosecutor’s Office of Bulgaria and a political leader sanctioned for corruption by the US and the UK".

The press release does not name the political leader but the one who matches the description is Movement for Rights and Freedoms leader Delyan Peevski. In June 2021 the US Treasury Department designated Peevski under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, accusing him of engaging in "significant corruption, using influence peddling and bribes to protect himself from public scrutiny and to exert control over key institutions and sectors in Bulgarian society", leading to the freezing of his US assets and a ban on transactions with US persons. The UK imposed sanctions on February 10, 2023 under its Global Anti-Corruption sanctions regime, which included an asset freeze and a travel ban. The sanctions cited allegations that Peevski was involved in attempts to exert control over key institutions and sectors in Bulgarian society through bribery and the use of his media influence.

Teodora Georgieva was appointed a European prosecutor from Bulgaria in July 2020. In September 2025, the College of the EPPO initiated disciplinary proceedings against her and in February 2026 she was found guilty of serious misconduct.  She had been suspended from office and replaced by an interim prosecutor pending the outcome of disciplinary proceedings.

Yankulov has forwarded the report to the competent authority under the special mechanism for investigating the Prosecutor General and their deputies. "The relevant prosecutorial authority in the EU member state will also be notified regarding alleged threats against Georgieva on its territory," the Ministry said.

In addition, Yankulov has taken steps to gather information about the circumstances described in the report, with a view to assessing whether disciplinary responsibility should be pursued for magistrates involved. 

"The report was also sent to the Bulgarian Interior Minister so that the Ministry’s structures can provide immediate and adequate protection for the whistleblower, given the highly sensitive nature of the information shared, as well as to investigate the alleged threats and pressure," the Ministry said.

According to the Ministry, the document contains "detailed facts regarding the actions and behavior of high-ranking officials across several institutions in connection with investigations conducted in recent years by the Bulgarian office of the European Public Prosecutor, including those related to the expansion of the Chiren gas storage facility - a critical site for national and European security - and the disciplinary proceedings initiated against Georgieva by the EPPO College". 

What Georgieva says in her report to the Justice Minister

The report links Georgieva’s actions as prosecutor in the Chiren Case, towards prosecuting a high-ranking public official, with the anonymous release in March 2025 of a video of a secretly filmed 2020 meeting between Georgieva and Petyo "the Euro" Petrov, a notorious power broker in the Bulgarian judiciary and a fugitive from justice. 

It was after the video was made public that the EPPO College started proceedings against Georgieva. 

Georgieva says that her meeting with Petrov was arranged by a senior prosecutor, who was a close acquaintance of hers. She claims that the videos were part of evidence collected during investigations launched in 2023 in the wake of a public rift between former Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev and his one-time deputy and now successor Borislav Sarafov. She alleges that the recordings were manipulated to allow speculation and insinuations, and to conceal another high-ranking magistrate present at the meeting. It is also claimed that the recordings were sent to media outlets by officials of the prosecution service.

The report further states that in April 2025 a senior prosecutor intentionally lied to EPPO officials probing Georgieva's actions, telling them that the Bulgarian authorities had evidence of bribes received by her. 

The Ministry of Justice emphasized that there is no known case in which Georgieva is formally charged with corruption based on evidence held by the Bulgarian prosecution.