site.btaJudge Svetla Daskalova to Take On Case Against Varna Mayor at Varna District Court

Judge Svetla Daskalova will take over the case against Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev after her name was drawn at random on Friday by Stoyan Popov, District Court Deputy Chair and Head of the Criminal Division. The case has been filed in the Varna District Court, Popov noted, adding that two jurors will be included in the panel in addition to Daskalova. The judge rapporteur must schedule the case within two months.

"There are applications filed to consider the measures for the defendants' detention. The judge rapporteur will say when they will be considered", Popov said, adding that no specific deadlines have been set.

"If it comes to a recusal or recusals, the standard procedure follows and the case is assigned to another judge rapporteur," Popov stated when asked what would happen if the panel were to recuse themselves.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of Cassation (SCC) ruled that the case against Kotsev and four co-defendants be heard by the Varna Regional Court rather than the Sofia City Court. 

Kotsev, elected mayor on the ticket of the opposition Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria in November 2023 - one of very few opposition mayors, including also that of Sofia, was arrested on July 8 following a tip-off for corruption by a failed public procurement tenderer. He was charged with participation in an organized crime group accused of engaging in abuse of office, bribery and money laundering. The court consistently rejected his applications for release from custody, and accepted the prosecutors' argument that he may interfere while the pre-trial proceedings were going on. Kotsev and four co-defendants were indicted on November 13 for conspiracy to commit bribery and coercion in order to obtain an economic benefit.