The Plovdiv Court of Appeal upheld the protest of the prosecutor's office and overturned the ruling of the District Court - Haskovo, which changed the detention measure of the mayor of Mineralni Bani Myumyun Iskender from “House arrest“ to “Cash guarantee“ of 45,000 leva. The magistrates left in force the detention measure “House arrest“ with an electronic monitoring device, the court's press service announced.
The case in the Court of Appeal – Plovdiv was formed upon a protest by the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office, which requested that the measure of detention for the accused remain “House arrest“.
With a written request, the accused, who entered the hospital as an emergency on April 22, requested that the case be considered in his absence. The court granted the request and proceeded with the case. The Court of Appeals considered that there was no danger of Iskender absconding. However, it did not perceive as justified and lawful the conclusion of the District Court in Haskovo that he had reduced the risk of committing a crime, especially since on April 22 he was charged with three more crimes.
Iskender was initially accused of participating in an organized criminal group for the misuse of European funds since the end of September last year. Co-defendants are Iskender's son - Ali Ali and municipal employee Bayram Ilyaz.
Lastly, on April 14, the Haskovo District Court mitigated Iskender's detention measure to "House arrest" and set a "Cash Bail" of 45,000 leva.
This has already happened once before - on March 4 this year, the house arrest was replaced with a "Cash Bail" measure of 100,000 leva by the Haskovo District Court. On March 11, however, the Plovdiv Court overturned the Haskovo District Court's determination and returned Iskender to house arrest.
Separately, the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office has already requested from the Haskovo District Court the removal of Iskender from the mayoral post. The case has been filed, but has not yet been scheduled.