Main Defendant in Bulgaria's Octopus Case Allowed to Leave Country

Alexei Petrov, a former employee of the national security agency DANS, has been allowed to travel abroad, in a court sitting on the high-profile "Octopus" case.

The trial was relaunched on Friday after having been pending for months.

The ruling was made by Atanas Atanasov, who was recently designated by the Sofia City Court to be Rapporteur of the case after judge Rumyana Chenalova, who had been in charge, was removed from office for a six-month period.

Petrov will be able to travel outside Bulgaria several times until end-June, and Marchelo Dzholotov, allegedly an "accomplice" to Petrov, will do this in April.

The trial began after a police operation against organized crime dubbed “Octopus” conducted in February 2010 during the first term in office of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

A dozen of people were detained in the operation. Ever since, Petrov has been subject to mounting accusations of his involvement in organized criminal activity.

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