site.btaCourt Orders Prosecution to Pay BGN 100,000 to Former Presidential Legal Advisor

The Sofia City Court ruled that the prosecution service must pay BGN 100,000 in compensation to Plamen Uzunov, legal advisor to the President, for non-pecuniary damages suffered in connection with charges brought against him in a case that was subsequently dismissed, as reported by the Single e-Justice Portal.

In 2020, Uzunov and Plamen Bobokov were charged with criminal conspiracy and crimes in office. Subsequently, the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office terminated the investigation because, according to the evidence gathered, the actions of the two did not constitute crimes.

The court stated that, through its actions in the investigation against Uzunov, the prosecutor's office affected his health by triggering chronic hypertension and diabetes. Uzunov's reputation had also been damaged because, at the time, he was the President's secretary for legal affairs and anti-corruption. In its reasoning, the court emphasized that the public interest in being informed cannot override the constitutional right to protection and the presumption of innocence.

The Sofia City Court also stated that within the framework of these proceedings, it has not been established why investigators, employees of the Sofia Directorate of Interior, State Agency for National Security, and Bureau for Protection of Endangered Persons under the Prosecutor General searched Uzunov's office, given that he had declared his full willingness to cooperate with the investigation. In this context, the actions taken to gather evidence could be interpreted as "exceeding what was necessary" and were likely to affect public perception of Uzunov's character. The court added that the searches were accompanied by considerable media interest, even though the place, time, and date of the searches were supposed to be confidential under the law.