PM: Bulgaria Can't Meddle in Spain's Justice over Cocaine Ship
Crime | August 24, 2012, Friday // 20:10| views
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov believes Bulgarian cocaine ship sailors captured by Spain will get a fair trial. Photo by BGNES
Bulgaria cannot intervene in the Spainish justice system, and only the Spanish authorities could authorize meetings of the 21 sailors captured by Spain with their families, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has declared.
Borisov spoke Friday night regarding the case in which Spain captured on August 16 the Bulgarian ship "St. Nikolay" with 3 tonnes of cocaine from Venezuela; 21 out of its 31-member crew are Bulgarians.
The PM stated that there can be no doubt whatsoever in the objectivity of Spanish justice because Spain is a EU member state, as cited by BNT.
Borisov's statement comes after Spain's Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz made it clear that Spain will be trying the sailors, dashing Bulgarian hopes for a Bulgarian trial; the news emerged during the special visit of Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov in Spain over the cocaine ship affair.
The Bulgarian PM explained that at present the Bulgarian sailors detained in Spain have seven state-provided lawyers, and that their relatives can hire additional lawyers if they wish to do so.
"In a ship that only carries three tons of cocaine, and nothing else, it is very hard to explain who is guilty, and who isn't, and that is not our job," Borisov declared.
"Everybody who was on board must answer to the Spanish judges what their role was in this affair, what they knew, what they saw, or didn't see," he concluded.
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