Bulgaria: Year in prison, 10 000 leva fine, for vote-buying

The District Court in the Bulgarian town of Shoumen has handed down a sentence of a year in prison and a fine of 10 000 leva for a vote-buyer in the country’s October 2022 early parliamentary elections, Bulgarian National Radio reported on February 22.

Judge Diyana Georgieva also ordered Sevdalin Stoyanov, 43, to pay close to 1500 leva in court costs.

The prison sentence follows Stoyanov earlier being handed suspended sentences.

The court heard that Stoyanov paid 100 leva to Rashko Raykov of Shoumen to vote for Boiko Borissov’s GERB-UDF coalition. Raykov used the money to pay three relatives to vote that way.

Defence counsel for Stoyanov told Radio Shoumen that they would appeal against the sentence, insisting that Stoyanov was not guilty.

Prosecutor Lyubomir Georgiev, who had asked the court to hand down a three-year prison sentence, said that he not yet decided whether to lodge an appeal for the prison to be increased.

(Archive photo: Bulgarian Interior Ministry press centre)