Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office accused three persons in "The 8th Dwarfs" case

15 August 2023

On 11.08.2023, the supervising prosecutor from the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office (SGP) in one of the cases, which refers to "The 8th Dwarfs"  case, accused three persons.

A prosecutor with the initials D.D. has been constituted as accused party because on 18.02.2020, in his capacity as an official occupying a responsible official position - a prosecutor at the Specialized Prosecutor's Office, he violated his official duties by returning seized physical evidence, representing gold coins, by decree of 18.02.2020 , to a person who was not eligible under the law. The magistrate is brought as a defendant for a general official crime under Art. 282, para 2 in connection with para. 1 of the Criminal Code, which is punishable by imprisonment from one to eight years and deprivation of the right to hold a certain position.

In the same pre-trial proceedings, a male person with the initials P.P., a former magistrate (investigator), and a female person with the initials L.P. were brought as defendants, for the fact that on 23.03.2020 in  Sofia, in complicity and for the purpose of acquiring a benefit for themselves, hid other people's movable property, gold coins, which they knew were acquired by another through a crime under Art. 282 of the Criminal Code. Both have been brought as defendants for a crime under Art. 215, para. 1 of the Criminal Code, which is punishable by imprisonment for a term of one to six years.

The accused, with initials P.P. is searched on the addresses known in the country. He is not found and for this reason an investigator from Department of Investigation at Sofia City Prosecutors Office, has ordered Sofia Metropolitan Directorate of Interior to declare P.P. for nationwide search. A measure of procedural coercion was imposed on the accused - detention for up to 72 hours. Under current legislation, the supervising prosecutor has taken action to issue a European Arrest Warrant for his international search.

At the same time, in another pre-trial proceeding, which was transferred by competence from Sofia Regional Prosecutor's Office (SRPO), a person with the initials P.P. was brought as a defendant for coercion – a crime under Art. 143 of the Criminal Code. The supervising prosecutor from Sofia City Prosecutors Office in the case, which was transferred by competence from SRPO, came to the conclusion that the decree to constitute P.P. as accused party, is issued without any evidence of a crime committed, without even an interrogation of a victim of the coercion. In connection with this, the decree for constitution of the accused party was annulled as an illegal act.