site.btaJustice Minister Yankulov: Acting Sofia City Prosecutor Should Be Fired over "Close Contact" with Notorious Power Broker

Caretaker Justice Minister Andrey Yankulov has submitted a request to the Supreme Judicial Council Prosecutors Chamber for the launch of disciplinary proceedings against Emilia Rusinova and her dismissal as acting Sofia City prosecutor, Yankulov told a media briefing on Tuesday.

The request is reasoned by disclosures that, in her previous capacity as deputy Sofia appellate prosecutor, Rusinova was in close contact with individuals being checked by the Sofia City Prosecution Office, which Yankulov described as a "sufficiently worrying fact".

On March 30, caretaker Interior Minister Emil Dechev told the media that in 2021 Rusinova shared a car ride with Petyo "Peppi the Euro" Petrov to North Macedonia. According to information received at the Interior Ministry, Rusinova crossed the border repeatedly and was accompanied on these trips by four or five individuals who at times included Petrov.

Yankulov said on Tuesday that Rusinova crossed the border twice with Petrov and his aide Kristiyan Hristov.

Petrov, a former investigating magistrate, is a notorious power broker in a criminal network for influencing the Bulgarian judiciary known as "The Eight Dwarfs" and currently a fugitive from justice.

Rusinova was first linked to Petrov in a Nova TV interview in which Teodora Georgieva, who has been suspended as Bulgaria's European Prosecutor, said that Rusinova had arranged for her an appointment with Petrov.

Two videos leaked to the media in March 2025, reportedly recorded using a hidden camera at The Eight Dwarfs Restaurant, showed Petrov as telling another individual, alleged to be Georgieva: "Anyway, we consider it an important position. We have decided. You take it and so be it." He was apparently discussing Georgieva's appointment to the European Public Prosecutor's Office in 2020.

So far Georgieva has not denied the allegations and has not contested the legitimacy of the recordings.

In a personal position, Rusinova denied having arranged any appointments and links and argued that unverified allegations and insinuations were being disseminated against her with the sole purpose to discredit her.