The first organized crime trial began on 16 January and culminated Wednesday in a plea bargain for Stepan Dimitrievich Kara, Georgi Borisov Boshnqkov, Ivan Kostov Ivanov and Silvia Mladenova Kapchikova, who admitted to running a drug dealing operation.
One of the defendants was sentenced to one year in prison, two were sentenced to three years of probation, and the fourth defendant received a sentence of one year in prison deferred for three years. A fifth defendant, Ilia Deruzov, pleaded not guilty and will be tried by another panel of judges.
The Court was originally designated to deal with high-profile cases of organized crime and corruption, but later shifted its focus to organized crime cases dealing with murder, smuggling, drug trafficking, bribery, and kidnapping. According to the head of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office, Borislav Sarafov, and the head of the Appellate Specialized Prosecutor’s Office, Svetozar Kostov, the newly established court has already taken over 80 cases from other courts across the country.
In a May 2011 report on her visit to Bulgaria, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Gabriela Carina Knaul Albuquerque e Silva said she understood the controversies surrounding a new court, but believed that it was necessary. She stressed that Bulgaria needed to make strides in upholding international judicial standards, independence of the judicial system from political and other undue influences, accountability of the judiciary, access to justice, and guarantees of a fair trial for all.
Bulgaria is under pressure from the European Union to clamp down on organized crime and corruption before it can enter the visa-free Schengen travel zone.
