The Burgas appeals court has kept in custody the man on trial over the fatal ATV crash at the Sunny Beach resort. He is identified only by the initials N.B.
In early November, Burgas regional court put him under house arrest with an electronic tag. The regional prosecutor's office appealed, and appeals court judges, sitting in closed session, ordered the toughest measure: detention.
What happened before: Burgas court puts defendant in fatal crash case under house arrest
According to the prosecution, N.B. was driving a four-wheeled electric vehicle on a road in the resort, in Nessebar municipality. It happened on 14 August 2025 at about 1.50pm. Prosecutors say he had taken tetrahydrocannabinol, a high-risk drug, before that. They say he broke many traffic rules and hit passing pedestrians.
A woman among them died in hospital on 3 September 2025. Her son suffered serious bodily harm, and two other people suffered moderate bodily harm.
N.B. is charged with causing the woman's death with eventual intent, with serious bodily harm to her son and with moderate bodily harm to two other people. He is being tried under Article 342, para 4, letter "c", read with para 3, letter "c" and para 1, third alternative, of the Criminal Code, which places the case among serious intentional crimes.
Before it ruled, the appeals court asked a prosecutor at the appeals prosecutor's office in Burgas for a written opinion with reasons. The prosecutor found that the regional court wrongly accepted the defence's main arguments: the defendant's good behaviour and "new circumstances". He said these are not new, because they already existed and were discussed at earlier hearings on the measure.
The regional court also did not take the seriousness of the charge into account, the prosecutor said, and all conditions for detention are met. Good conduct in court alone is not enough for a milder measure.
The prosecutor agrees with the first court that there is no reason to expect N.B. to commit a new crime. But he says firmly that the risk he will go into hiding is still real. He said this is clear from the seriousness of the charge, the way the act happened and how seriously it hit the interests the law protects, all of which show the accused is a great danger to the public.
N.B. has been in custody for more than 14 months. The prosecutor said the length of detention alone is no reason to change the measure, because it is not a numerical test and cannot be set against the assessment of whether the detention is lawful.