Bulgaria's High-Profile 'Octopus' Trial Back in Court

A Bulgarian court will convene on March 14 to resume the hearings in a high profile criminal case, known as "Octopus".

Several witnesses are expected to be questioned during the hearing.

The previous hearing took place on March 6, when a total of five witnesses were questioned. On March 6, the main defendant, Aleksei Petrov, commented on the abduction of Lara Baneva, the 10-year-old daughter of notorious drug lord Evelin Banev. He blamed former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and former Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov for the abduction.

A notorious Bulgarian "businessman" and former employee of the State Agency for National Security, Aleksei Petrov is tried on numerous counts for organized crime.

Aleksei Petrov was arrested in February 2010 in a much-publicized special operation by Bulgaria's police, codenamed Octopus.

Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov and Minister of Interior Tsvetanov did much to portray Petrov as the mastermind of an extensive organized crime network.

The trial against Petrov has however dragged for months with little progress, and with the prosecution forced to drop part of the charges against him.

In the early 1990s, Petrov was a business partner of Borisov.

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