site.btaCourt Terminates Proceedings for Early Release of Evelin "Brendo" Banev

The Sofia City Court has terminated proceedings for the early release of Evelin "Brendo" Banev. The ruling is appealable.

According to the judge, the proceedings were initiated by the director of the Central Sofia Prison, who was later suspended, while an authorized representative of the current director withdrew the application, which constituted grounds for terminating the proceedings.

After the court hearing, Prosecutor Angel Kanev said: "We were obliged to ask the new prison director if he upheld the application. He explicitly stated that they were withdrawing it, and the law is unequivocal that the proceedings must be terminated." This does not mean the convicted person is not entitled to submit a new application for early release and for new proceedings to be initiated, the prosecutor said.

The defence wanted to have an early release application heard later on Friday, but neither the defence nor the convicted person had submitted such a request, which constitutes the sole formal impediment. "They can apply for proceedings within minutes and the application will be examined," Kanev said. He added that the court's act was correct and legally conforming and that he would not lodge a protest.

On February 2, the prison director, Borislav Chorbanski, submitted to the Sofia City Court a proposal for the conditional early release of Banev, who was yet to serve four years and nine months. Chorbanski reasoned that Banev had served most of his sentence and that it had fulfilled its purpose.

Evelin "Brendo" Banev, known as Bulgaria's cocaine king, had been wanted under Interpol Red Notices since 2018 for participating in an organized crime group for money laundering in Bulgaria and for setting up an organized criminal group and drug trafficking in Romania. Banev was sentenced to six years imprisonment for money laundering in Bulgaria, 20 years for cocaine trafficking in Italy, and 10 years for cocaine trafficking in Romania.

He surrendered to the Bulgarian authorities on June 24, 2024. The Sofia Appellate Court ruled that Brendo would serve a total sentence of 10 and a half years in Bulgaria under an initial strict regime. From this term, nearly one year spent in detention in Italy was deducted, as well as the time he had already spent in the Central Sofia Prison.