site.btaUPDATED Varna Court Releases Mayor Blagomir Kotsev on BGN 200,000 Bail

Varna District Court Thursday released on a BGN 200,000 bail the city's mayor, Blagomir Kotsev. The court announced the decision after a hearing that lasted some four hours. 

Kotsev has been in custody since his arrest on July 8 in a corruption and office abuse case. He denies any wrongdoing.

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, Kotsev was arrested following a tip-off for corruption by a failed public procurement tenderer. He was charged with participation in an organized criminal group accused of engaging in abuse of office, bribery and money laundering. His case was sent to Sofia as the prosecutors alleged that it involved an MP (in which case the competent court is the Sofia City Court). The court has 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. In November a supreme court sent the case back to Varna.

Even before the Thursday hearing began, relatives and supporters of the detained mayor started gathering in front of the courthouse. People greeted him with signs and calls for his release.

In the courtroom, Kotsev’s defence counsel - lawyers Ina Lulcheva and Nikolay Vladimirov - presented new evidence in favour of his released. Lulcheva stated that there are 24 pages of medical documentation, mainly concerning Kotsev’s partner, which should not be discussed publicly but shows that she has a diagnosis that cannot be treated in Bulgaria and that she will have to travel to a clinic in Germany after December 10.

"For more than four months, a citizen of Bulgaria and of the EU has been deprived of a constitutional right, and the third-largest city in the country has been left without its lawfully elected mayor," Vladimirov said. He emphasized that the prosecution’s arguments - that if release Kotsev might interfere with the investigation - are no longer valid because the indictment has already been submitted to the court, and the mayor is now a defendant, not an accused person. Lulcheva also stressed that the witnesses in the case against the Varna mayor never said that he directly requested a bribe from them.

She argued that the main purpose of Kotsev’s detention has been to remove him from office.

Prosecutors Ahmed Kokoev and Georgi Ivanov urged the court to leave the Mayor in custody as, while they see no risk of him fleeing, the collected evidence "clearly shows a reasonable assumption that he committed the acts he is accused of". According to the prosecutors, there is a risk that, if released on bail or on his own recognizance, he may commit other crimes. 

Blagomir Kotsev told the court that he had done nothing illegal. He added that he is glad the trial is beginning, because this will bring the truth to light and clear his name and that of his family. "I believe in the rule of law," Kotsev said, and pointed out that he wants to be released because he has responsibilities to the people of Varna, to his loved ones, and to his young children. The Mayor stressed that he will not abandon his responsibilities and expressed his conviction that the case against him is intended to remove him from the post to which he was elected.

In the courtroom, he thanked the people of Varna for the 14 protests held in his support.

Kotsev's Continue the Change party insist that his arrest is part of a government campaign targeting the opposition. Large-scale protests in his support have been staged in Varna, Sofia and other major cities. The Renew Europe group in the European Parliament where Continue the Change is affiliated, sees Kotsev's extended detention as "an onslaught on democratic institutions and rule of law in Bulgaria".

The press service of Continue the Change (CC) announced on Thursday that donations are being collected to cover Kotsev’s bail. “He can be reunited with his children immediately once the amount is paid. Let us not allow Blago to remain in detention for even a single day more!” the party said.