Stoyan Kolev is back in Bulgaria. The Chief Directorate "Guard" under the justice minister said Spain handed the influencer over today, 14 October, under a European arrest warrant. Kolev is charged with hooliganism and driving after using drugs. He broke his house arrest and was put on the wanted list.
Directorate officers took him into custody at 10:00 local time at Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas airport and escorted him to Bulgaria. The directorate said the handover took place at 14:30 Bulgarian time.
"The person was transported in line with the set rules and with the necessary security measures in place," the directorate said in a statement to the media. It said the operation was planned in advance and coordinated with Bulgarian and Spanish institutions.
The notice that Spain would hand him over came from the SIRENE bureau in Spain, through the International Operational Cooperation Directorate of the Interior Ministry.
Kolev posted a video of his arrival on his own Instagram profile. In the footage he steps off the plane in handcuffs. He arrives at Vasil Levski airport in Sofia with his lawyer.
Lawyer Tervel Raev confirmed that Kolev is back in Bulgaria. He said Kolev will be arrested in Pazardzhik, because he broke his house arrest and fled to Spain. After he fled, prosecutors changed his measure to detention in custody.
In Valencia, local police arrested him while he was streaming live on social media. Bulgarian police gave the Spanish authorities the alert and the address they acted on. Kolev spent a little over a month in a Spanish prison before he was extradited.
The case began on 16 June on the Trakia motorway. According to the charges, Kolev drove aggressively, came dangerously close to other cars and waved an air rifle through the sunroof of his car. A check found he had used cocaine.
He also faces a charge of indecent behaviour at the Palace of Justice in Pazardzhik. It is a criminal case of a general nature, heard at the district court in the city.
In June the court changed his measure from detention in custody to house arrest. Kolev crossed several borders before he reached Spain.
While he was being sought, he streamed live from different European countries. The court in Pazardzhik postponed the preliminary hearing because his absence blocked the case.
A day before the extradition, Kolev posted a video confession from the prison in Valencia. In it he says he is innocent and that since 16 June he has been in custody, under house arrest or on the run, with only 10 days of freedom. He asks who will give him back the summer that was taken from him, says he is fed up and wants to get out of prison.
In the same video he promises not to shout any more and not to jump around in front of the judges. He says he is not dangerous to anyone.
Kolev also claims that Spain is handing him over on only one of the charges. The institutions have not confirmed this.
He said his lawyer told him that prosecutors on the case had been removed. A prosecutor who had pushed for his permanent detention from the first measure was put in their place, he said. This information also comes only from Kolev and is not confirmed.
The prosecutors and the court will decide on his measure. The preliminary hearing at the district court in Pazardzhik is set for 10 November.