Emblematic Bulgarian Security Boss Sentenced for Organized Crime

Emblematic security boss from Sliven Atanas Mundev has been sentenced to 12 years in jail for practicing organized crime for 11 years. Photo by 24 Chasa daily

Atanas Mandev, the emblematic head of security firm functioning as an organized crime group in Bulgaria's Sliven, has been sentenced to 12 years in jail.

Mandev, a businessman and president of the former security firm "Club 777", a well known racketeering and extortion group in Southeastern Bulgaria, has been found guilty of organized crime, human trafficking, and enticement into prostitution.

The court in Sliven ruled that Mandev was involved in these crimes in the city of Sliven and abroad from 1998 until he was arrested in 2009.

Together with his five accomplices in Club 777 he is found to have committed 60 crimes that translated into a verdict of 40 pages when it was announced Saturday night, BTA reported.

Mandev's former security firm Club 777 was a regional replica of the two mightiest mafia structures in Bulgaria in the 1990s, VIS and SIC.

In addition to 12 years in jail, he has also been sentenced to a fine of BGN 20 000.

Three of Mandev's accomplices – Kolyo Ivanov, Valeri Raykov, and Selim Kadirov – were sentenced to 11 years in jail, and fines of BGN 20 000 each.

Two other men, Ivan Iliev and Petar Petrov, received 10 and 6 years in jail, and smaller fines.

Specially for Saturday's hearing, the rapporteur on the case, Kancho Zhekov, Chair of the Sliven District Court, had provided an ambulance and a cardiologists in the event that Mandev receives hearth problems during the hearing, as has happened during past court sessions.

The sentences can be appealed before the Burgas Appellate Court within 15 days.

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