Iran Begins Drug Trafficking Trial against Bulgarian Driver

Zhivko Rusev, a Bulgarian truck driver, was arrested in Iran in September 2008 in the Northern Iranian city of Tabriz in an anti-drug operation. File Photo

The trial against Bulgarian truck driver Zhivko Rusev over drugs smuggling charges begins in Iran Monday.

The Bulgarian Embassy in Tehran has hired local lawyer Moghaddam Far to defend Rusev. The Bulgarian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson said earlier has been recommended to Bulgaria by employees of the Turkish Embassy in Iran."

If proven guilty, Rusev is facing the dead penalty because according to Iranian law the punishment for illegal drug trafficking is death by hanging.

In September 2008, the 55-year-old Rusev, from the southern Bulgarian town of Galabovo, was arrested in the Northern Iranian city of Tabriz in an anti-drug operation. The authorities discovered 135 kg of heroin in his truck.

Rusev's daughter says she thought her father had got married to a Russian woman in Armenia and did not know he was in jail in Iran.

In addition, Rusev's transport company waited for quite a while before telling the police one of their truck drivers was missing but they announced a wrong name. Thus, Bulgaria's Foreign Affairs Ministry only learned about the case in January 2009.

 

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