The Prosecutor's Office must pay 100,000 leva in compensation for non-pecuniary damage and 12,000 leva for property damage to the former head of the operational-technical directorate at the State Agency "Intelligence" (DAR) P.V. This decision, issued by the Sofia City Court, is in connection with the high-profile raid on the presidency in July 2020, reports the"Sega" newspaper.
The case under the State Responsibility Act was filed by P.V., who initially requested 500,000 leva in compensation, but the court considered that 100,000 leva was sufficient compensation for the suffering suffered. The decision, issued by Judge Svilen Stanchev, is not final and can be appealed by both parties to the appeals court.
The former high-ranking official has also filed a separate lawsuit against DAR itself for 100,000 leva (a partial claim of 500,000 leva), but a decision on it is not expected soon.
The story begins in May 2020, when the then chairman of DAR, Atanas Atanasov, initially received an oral report, and later an official report, that P.V. intended to hand over secret documents to the CIA. The report was sent directly to Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev, and the next day the whistleblower was appointed head of the directorate.
In his claim, P.V. explains that he worked in intelligence for over 15 years (previously in the National Intelligence Service) and 15 years in the Ministry of Defense, leaving the DAR in early 2020 to care for his wife with severe cancer.
After receiving the signal, P.V. was summoned for questioning by a military investigator. Upon his appearance at the military prosecutor's office, he was searched and taken to his home, where a search was conducted for hours without a court order. Laptops, phones and flash drives were seized. At the same time, the home of his 78-year-old mother outside Sofia was also searched.
"The next day, I was verbally summoned to appear at the military prosecutor's office, where I was threatened and persuaded to become a witness with an open and secret identity under the so-called. "presidential case"", P.V. writes in his lawsuit.
After he refused to cooperate, he was subjected to, in his words, "unprecedented institutional harassment". On June 16, 2020, he was charged with leaking state secrets and detained. After 8 days, the Military Court of Appeals released him under house arrest with an electronic bracelet, and nearly 4 months later - on bail of 5,000 leva.
The ban on leaving the country, which lasted 18 months, coincided with his wife's third and most serious operation. She was admitted to the Military Medical Academy 7 times for a total of 29 days, without him being able to be with her. Ultimately, in September 2020, his wife passed away.
In February 2023, P.V. was also accused of espionage for the CIA, and five months later the first charge was dropped. On August 29, 2023, the Sofia Military Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment against him.
The court noted in its decision that the case against P.V. was publicly publicized by the former Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev, "which led to public discrediting and tarnishing the plaintiff's good name". It determined that 100,000 leva in compensation for non-pecuniary damage was fair, and 12,000 leva for material damage was awarded due to attorneys' fees.
The action in the presidency also triggered an investigation against businessman Plamen Bobokov and the presidential anti-corruption secretary Plamen Uzunov, which was later dropped. Meanwhile, their arrests were recognized as arbitrary and both sentenced the prosecutor's office to 10,000 leva each.
Presidential advisor Iliya Milushev was also detained at the time, with the court subsequently declaring his arrest illegal.
Lawyer Nikolay Hadzhigenov, who is defending the victim, commented last September to "Sega": "This is another case in which, led by the Prosecutor General and individual prosecutors and with the complicity of the chairman of an agency, they are tearing someone's life to pieces in order to use it for political and mafia games".