site.btaCase against Ex-PM Kiril Petkov to Be Handled in Fast-Track Procedure

A case against Continue the Change Coalition co-leader Kiril Petkov, in which he is charged with exceeding his authority in his former capacity as prime minister by ordering the arrest of his predecessor Boyko Borissov on March 17, 2022, will be handled in a fast-track procedure without admission of guilt. On Tuesday, the Sofia City Court adjourned the first hearing in the trial until the end of September.

Only a small part of the witnesses will testify in the courtroom. The evidence provided by the other witnesses during the investigation will be incorporated into the case. Petkov has not admitted guilt to the charges pressed against him.

Tuesday’s postponement of the trial came after the defence asked the court to give it time to familiarize itself with the case file before witnesses are questioned.

According to the indictment submitted by the Sofia City Prosecution Office to the Sofia City Court on February 14, 2025, Petkov exceeded his authority on March 17, 2022. He allegedly ordered a chief and a deputy chief of the Investigation and Investigation Methodological Guidance Division at the National Police General Directorate, as well as a chief investigating police officer at that division, to act in breach of the law.

Bulgaria's former prime minister and leader of GERB (then the largest opposition party) Boyko Borissov, former finance minister Vladislav Goranov, and public relations advisor Sevdelina Arnaudova were arrested on March 17, 2022. The Interior Ministry then said the operation was part of an extortion investigation prompted by probes by the European Public Prosecutor's Office. The three were released after 24 hours without facing charges. In April 2022, the Sofia Regional Court (SRC) ruled that authorities had failed to collect "a single good piece of evidence of the accused parties' complicity in the alleged crime." In August 2022, the Sofia Administrative Court confirmed the SRC's judgment according to which Borissov, Goranov and Arnaudova had been arrested illegally.