Bulgaria Court Fails to Proceed with Football Boss Case

Football boss, Ivaylo Drazhev, is accused of causing the death of 2 people and sending another one to a wheelchair during a 1998 car accident. Photo by BGNES

The magistrates team from the Burgas Regional Court failed to proceed Monday with the trail of former football club president, Ivaylo Drazhev.

The reason was the absence of one of the members of jury.

The trail is held over a 1998 car accident where the football boss is accused of causing the death of 2 people and sending another one to a wheelchair. This is the second accident in which Drazhev, allegedly, caused a fatality, and the case has been dragging on for 11 years without a verdict. Drazhev claims the investigator had not followed proper procedures.

Several doctor's notes were presented Monday, certifying the illness of a female member of the jury, who has been failing to appear in the courtroom since July 2009. The magistrates decided that if she is absent at the next session, the trial will be held behind closed doors at her home. In the afternoon of the same day, the magistrates will hold a regular session to declare her position and to decide if they would accept her eventual withdrawal.

The trail is in its last stage with only pleadings and a verdict forthcoming.

The former owner of the Burgas-based football club “Chernomorets” and local businessman, Ivaylo Drazhev, was arrested on January 6 in Burgas and escorted to Sofia by police. The Prosecutor’s Office demanded his permanent detention over charges of document fraud, but the Sofia City Court ruled on January 8 to release Drazhev on bail.

Since the arrest came just one day after the murder of controversial journalist Bobi Tsankov in Sofia, there have been wide-spread speculations the detention is linked to the killing, but such reports have been dismissed as untrue.

Hours before the arrest, Drazhev said in an interview that he was firendly with Tsankov, who was gunned down on January 5 in broad daylight on a busy Sofia boulevard. He also said that Tsankov used bodyguards and a SUV from the businesses of alleged top crime boss, Zlatomir Ivanov aka Zlatko Baretata (the Barret). Drazhev used the same company for security during the July 2009 general elections where he was a majority candidate for Member of the Parliament from the "Bulgarian Patriots" Union ticket.

Also during the elections, Drazhev asked the authorities to release Zlatko Baretata from jail with the motive he was his advocate for the parliamentary run. The court rejected the request. Baretata is linked to organized crime, two murders for hire and three attempted murders.

Tsankov was known for his ties with the mafia, including Baretata, and for publications revealing the dark secrets of the underworld.

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