Bulgarian Court Keeps in Jail Nabbed Former Agent

The Sofia Court of Appeals have decided to keep in jail the former agent Aleksei Petrov because "he might influence witnesses if released". Photo by BGNES

The Sofia Court of Appeal has decided to keep in jail Aleksei Petrov, a former undercover agent and an alleged ringleader of a crime group, was was arrested earlier this year.

The magistrates have decided that throughout the five months Petrov has been in jail, there have been collected enough evidence to support the accusations that he has been a leader of a crime group, dealing with blackmailing.

The court's ruling has stated that the actions he has been accused of cannot be justified by the information from his record of service as an agent of the National State Security Agency (DANS).

“There have been evidence that Petrov had contacts with a lot of people and has been using them in a regular and in an irregular way. Many witnesses fear him and there have been tapped conversations of him threatening people. This is why we believe he could influence witnesses if he is release,” the court's ruling stated.

However, the court has insisted that both the prosecution and the defense should provide more evidence to their theses.

Aleksei Petrov, one of the most controversial and mysterious figures of the country's transition, was arrested in the middle of February on charges of money laundering, racketeering, drug trafficking, bribery and tax fraud.

A total of 14 men and women were arrested in the middle of February in the special police operation codenamed “Octopus”, which targeted a large-scale organized crime group. The crimes of which Aleksei Petrov and the other defendants are accused have been committed in the period 1997-2010.

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