Bulgaria high court upholds suspended sentence in eavesdropping trial against former court chief
Bulgaria’s Supreme Court of Cassation ruled on April 20 to uphold the one-year suspended sentence, with a three-year probation period, against the former head of Sofia City Court, Vladimira Yaneva, on charges of authorising the use of covert surveillance beyond limits imposed by law.
Yaneva was also fined 1000 leva. The high court’s sentence is final.
Yaneva was accused of authorising the use of covert surveillance in “Operation Worms” for 300 days, a period well in excess of the 180 days limit allowed by law.
The row about “Operation Worms” began with claims in February 2015 – denied by top officials including Prime Minister Boiko Borissov and then-interior minister Vesselin Vuchkov – that under the now-departed Plamen Oresharski administration, the State Agency for National Security and the Interior Ministry had been involved in illegal covert surveillance of anti-government protesters.
Yaneva became the main target of the investigation for allegedly authorising the use of covert surveillance in “Operation Worms” for 300 days, a period well in excess of that allowed by law, although no charges have been filed against her yet. She was suspended by the Supreme Judicial Council and later resigned as head of the Sofia City Court, but not as a judge.
(Photo: Jason Morisson/sxc.hu)
