Court Rules Varna Mayor Kotsev’s Police Arrest Unlawful, Questions Procedural Failures

The Sofia District Court has ruled that the initial 24-hour police detention of Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev was unlawful. The decision came after an appeal filed by his attorney, Ina Lyulcheva, according to the legal outlet De Facto.

Kotsev was detained on July 8 last year under the Law on the Anti-Corruption Commission, following a proposal by the now-defunct Anti-Corruption Commission in connection with pre-trial proceedings concerning alleged corruption. His arrest was linked to actions taken within the framework of a special police operation.

After the initial detention, prosecutors imposed a 72-hour measure, which was later suspended. The Varna District Court subsequently overturned that decision and returned the case to the competent court. Despite this, Kotsev was later placed in custody for five months over accusations that have not been proven.

In its reasoning, the Sofia District Court stressed that a lawful detention order must clearly outline the factual basis for suspecting a specific criminal offense. Judge Irina Stova pointed out that the warrant issued against Kotsev failed to include the necessary details. Instead of describing concrete circumstances or evidence, the document merely referred to a “special police operation” as the ground for the arrest.

The court found that the wording of the order was vague and did not make it sufficiently clear that Kotsev was suspected of committing a crime. It also did not specify when or under what circumstances the alleged offense had taken place. According to the ruling, this omission constitutes a serious breach of procedural rules and undermines the detainee’s right to defense, as he was not given the opportunity to respond to concrete factual allegations.

The judges concluded that this deficiency alone justifies the annulment of the detention order. The ruling, however, is not final and may be challenged before the Administrative Court of Sofia City.