Bulgarian courts impose huge fines on quarantine violators
Bulgarian courts have been handing down huge fines to people violating mandatory quarantine orders.
The Prosecutor’s Office said on April 16 that a court in Petrich had approved plea bargains between the district prosecutor’s office and three accused.
The three had arrived in Bulgaria on March 26 at the Danube II Bridge border checkpoint at Vidin in a foreign-registered car and had told the authorities that they had travelled from the UK.
Each was ordered into 14-day quarantine at their registered addresses in Petrich.
However, police investigated after a video posted on Facebook showed them participating in a large party outdoors on April 7.
Two were sentenced to five months in prison, suspended for three years, and fines of 10 000 leva (about 5000 euro) each. The third was ordered into probation for two years, including regular compulsory signing of a register, regular meetings with a probation officer, 200 hours a year community service and a fine of 5000 leva. The court’s ruling is final.
Separately, a court in Plovdiv has found a lorry driver who had arrived from Germany guilty of violating quarantine after he left the address where he had declared he would be staying.
The driver was sentenced to a year and a half in prison, suspended for three years, and a fine of 20 000 leva.
The sentence is subject to appeal in the Plovdiv Regional Court within 15 days.
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(Photo: Jason Morrison)
