Bulgarian 'Octopus' Released from House Arrest

Controversial businessman and former DANS employee Aleksei Petrov, listens to the favorable Court rule. Photo by BGNES

The Sofia City changed Monday, under the defense counsel appeal,  the house arrest of Aleksei Petrov to a lighter measure – own recognizance.

Controversial businessman and former employee of Bulgaria's State Agency for National Security (DANS), Aleksei Petrov, was arrested one year ago, (February 10, 2010), in a much advertised special police operation codenamed "Octopus."

He was released on house arrest in October, 2010.

Petrov's attorney, Ina Lulcheva, stated Monday the State main witness had not been reliable over his readiness to say anything that would serve the prosecution, and that it was unacceptable to base the house arrest on new charges, which did not exist at the time the measure was imposed.

According to Lulcheva, in their desire to keep her client under arrest at any price, the prosecution has changed the charges from racket through threats to racket through murder attempt, reminding that from the 9 people detained during the "Octopus" operation, only 3 are facing charges.

Prosecutor, Svetlozar Kostov, pointed out that the pressed charges include 7 separate crimes, and they kept changing not because his office wanted to keep Petrov under arrest, but over the ongoing probe, revealing new evidence.

According to Kostov, the former DANS employee aka the Octopus or the Tractor established and led 2 separate gangs dealing with different crimes. One of the group included Aleksei Petrov and the two other remaining defendants – Marcello Dzhotolov and Anton Petrov aka the Hamster.

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