Burgas District Court has kept two mayors in custody: Dimitar Gavazov of Sungurlare and Radoslav Revanski of Belitsa. The court ordered both held in detention, as prosecutors had asked. Their lawyers wanted a lighter measure.
The mayors were arrested on charges of corruption and taking part in a criminal group. Court guards brought them to the Palace of Justice today. Prosecutors say the case concerns public contracts in Sungurlare municipality worth about €7m. Before going into the courtroom, Revanski called on people not to play with ethnic peace and with fire.
Background: Burgas court hears bail requests for the mayors of Belitsa and Sungurlare
Prosecutors argued that the charges are well founded and that the two men could go into hiding.
Prosecutor Miroslav Iliev, who is overseeing the case, described to the court a scheme to share out money from public contracts. He said Gavazov and Revanski both took part. He cited a witness, identified by the initials M. Ts., who said the Belitsa mayor told him of a benefit of between 25% and 35%. "I am the man who shares out the portions," Revanski said, according to the same witness.
There is even more evidence against Gavazov, the prosecutor said. Another witness says the Sungurlare mayor and Revanski agreed the value of the projects between them. Iliev also said Gavazov personally promised three contracts to a contractor picked by Revanski, and is now refusing to make a final payment to a contractor on the Belitsa mayor's instructions.
Prosecutors say Revanski threatened firms with checks by state bodies if they did not do what they had promised.
Revanski's lawyer called M. Ts.'s testimony "isolated claims". He said most of the witnesses questioned say they do not know the Belitsa mayor. He added that his client has no criminal record and has cooperated fully with the investigation.
Gavazov's defence team says the witness statements are not enough to pin the offence on him. His lawyers do not accept that a mayor has the power to decide who wins a public contract. They stressed that there is no evidence of any percentage of material gain. Witnesses, including a former candidate for mayor of Sungurlare, say they know of no case of Gavazov influencing the contracts. The lawyers say the case rests on guesswork and "theories of probability", and that everything in it is interpretation.