Bulgarian Chief Prosecutor Begs to Differ with PM on 'Healthy' Custody

Bulgaria's Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov has disagreed with Prime Minister Boyko Borisov's statement that it would be "healthier „for sentenced criminals to stay in custody.

"I have always claimed that persons who have been sentenced at first instance will be much healthier if they stay in custody," Borisov said on Tuesday. His statement followed the assassination attempt on notorious drug lord Zlatomir Ivanov aka The Beret, who was shot in front of the Central Courthouse in Sofia. Ivanov was under house arrest.

"It is only the court that can determine remand measures in all civilized countries," Tsatsarov argued on Thursday.

"I do not support the notion that people sentenced at first instance should be kept in custody," he told reporters.

Tsatsarov once again condemned Tuesday's brutal assassination attempt.

Ivanov was shot in broad daylight in the vicinity of the main courtroom building in the Bulgarian capital on Tuesday as he was going there for an appeals hearing in an illegal drugs distribution case against him.