site.btaDetained Varna Mayor Presented with Case Files, Legal Defence Calls for Termination of Criminal Proceedings

Detained Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev's lawyer, Ina Lulcheva, Friday said that she had requested the termination of the criminal proceedings against Kotsev, as well as the revocation or modification of his remand measure. She spoke to reporters shortly after the Anti-Corruption Commission presented Kotsev and his legal defence with all case files.

Lulcheva said that the case files must also be made available to the other defendants in the case, after which the prosecutor will have to decide whether to terminate the proceedings, return the case for further investigation, or prepare an indictment.

Kotsev, who was elected mayor on the ticket of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria in November 2023, was arrested on July 8 following a tip-off for corruption by a failed public procurement tenderer. Kotsev, along with municipal councillors Nikolay Stefanov and Yordan Kateliev, was charged with participating in an organized crime group. On October 27, the Anti-Corruption Commission brought final charges in the case, downgrading the initial charges for participation in an organized crime group to criminal conspiracy, according to Lulcheva.