Burgas Regional Court has moved a defendant in a fatal road crash case from custody to house arrest. He will wear an electronic tag instead of being held in custody, the court's press office said.
The court named the defendant only by his initials, N.B. It also banned him from leaving Bulgaria without permission, given the seriousness of the crime for which he is on trial.
N.B. is charged over a crash in which one person died and more than one other person was injured. He has been in custody for more than 14 months. The court took up the issue after an appeal by the defendant and his lawyers.
OS "IN" will monitor the house arrest. It will check that he follows the rules and quickly spot any breach.
The court said the evidence against the defendant has not weakened enough to remove the reasonable suspicion that he took part in the offence. But after so long in custody, the strictest measure can continue only if there are especially strong, specific and current grounds. These must show a risk that he will go into hiding, and that a milder measure cannot limit that risk.
The court weighed the seriousness of the charge, the heavy sentence N.B. could get and the late stage of the trial. The judges said this is no longer enough to keep him in custody. There is no specific evidence that he intends to flee or is preparing to. The defendant has no criminal record and good references. He has lasting family ties in Bulgaria and was earlier under house arrest with no breaches.
The court said the risk that he will go into hiding has not fully gone. But at its present level, house arrest with electronic monitoring can meet the aims set out in Article 57 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
House arrest limits the defendant's freedom, the court explained: he cannot leave his home without permission from the relevant authority. For this reason, it counts as a form of imprisonment. Under Article 59(1)(2) of the Criminal Code, two days of house arrest count as one day in prison.
The court said it does not ignore the grave and tragic results of the crash, or what the case means for the victims, their families and society. The judges said this does not change the purpose of preventive measures. Under Article 57 of the Criminal Procedure Code, they exist only to stop a defendant going into hiding, committing a new crime or blocking the enforcement of a final sentence.
Custody should not take the place of a sentence that may be handed down later. The court changed the measure only because it must decide whether coercion is needed and proportionate at this stage of the case.
One judge on the panel wrote a dissenting opinion on the ruling.
On 29 October we reported that the case concerns the serious quad bike crash in Sunny Beach in 2025, and that the defendant is 19-year-old Nikola Burgazliev. Before the hearing, the mother of the woman who died told reporters he should stay in custody.
Whether N.B. is guilty, and what responsibility he will bear, will become clear with the verdict, once the trial ends. The ruling can be appealed to the Burgas Court of Appeal within seven days.