Serbia Drug Lord Case to Be Returned over Confused Identity

The defense has claimed that the real Montenegrin identity card of Kujovic is not included in the case's files. Photo by BGNES

The lawyers of the Serbian drug lord, Budimir Kujovic, have asked the Bulgarian Supreme Court of Cassation to return the the case until the defendant's identity is not clarified.

The defense has claimed that the real Montenegrin identity card of Kujovic is not included in the case's files.

He himself said during the Thursday's session that in the files besides his name there was nothing else correct. His date and place of birth, his mother's family name and his father's first name have been mistaken.

Kujovic stated before the court that while he was having business in Bulgaria he used to give money as bribe to ex-Interior Minister, Rumen Petkov, and former Interior Ministry Secretary, Valentin Petrov.

In his words, the case started after he stopped paying. He stated that his thesis could be proved, because there were records of the whole information exchange between him, Petrov and Petkov.

The case has been repeatedly postponed over what the defendant has complained are "procedure violations", such as the lack of a Montenegrin-Bulgarian translator in the court room.

Despite the prosecutors' protest that Kujovic understands written and spoken Bulgarian perfectly, so far the trial against him, Nikolay Paskov, Mihail Yankov, and Stoyko Doychev has misfired.

In 2008, Kujovic was sentenced to 16 years in jail, and a BGN 220 000 fine for organizing and conducting drug trafficking. Nikolay Paskov has an effective 10 years sentence, and must pay a BGN 100 000 fine.

The other two have effective sentences of between 10 and 15 years, and must pay fines from BGN 100 000 to BGN 200 000.

 

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