Bulgaria Ex VP Enters Court Battle to Prove Legitimacy

Former Bulgarian VP Angel Marin is pictured here after his recent decoration with a Stara Planina order, just days before coming under fire over the legitimacy of his second and last term. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

The legitimacy of Bulgaria's former vice president can be proven with a written document only, the country's top court has demanded, fueling the raging controversy.

A three-member panel of the Supreme Administrative Court ruled on Wednesday that the presidency should provide a written document, stating whether former Vice President Angel Marin has been authorized for his second mandate or not.

It has recently emerged that former President Georgi Parvanov failed to issue a decree authorizing the second mandate of the Vice President from 2007 to 2012.

This has led many to state that Marin's decrees to pardon prisoners, grant and strip of citizenship can be challenged in court as invalid and in violation of the Constitution.

Meanwhile it became clear that Angel Marin pardoned mainly murderers and culprits of other grave crimes during his two terms in office.

The country's new President Rosen Plevneliev tried to play down the scandal, but now the top court has forced him into producing irrefutable proofs.

The issue of Marin's alleged illegitimacy was taken to the court room by no other than Interpol-sought Russian mafia thug Konstantin Tsiganov, who is believed to be the head of the Russian crime group Uralmash.

Tsiganov is said to be the head of the Russian crime group Uralmash and has been wanted by the Russian authorities since 2003 and by the Interpol since 2006.

He was granted Bulgarian citizenship in 2001.

Ten years later, he was expelled from Bulgaria, stripped of Bulgarian citizenship and banned from re-entering the country for 10 years.

Earlier this year the anti-government Galeria weekly released an article, featuring a photo of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov playing football with the Russian mafioso.

The article informed that the match had taken place on August 27, 2008, when Boyko Borisov was mayor of Sofia.

The publication triggered a heated debate in parliament and questioned, yet again, the prime minister's integrity and the transparency of his links to allegedly underworld figures.

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