Mayors Dimitar Gavazov of Sungurlare and Radoslav Revanski of Belitsa are to leave custody and be held under house arrest with electronic tags, the Burgas Court of Appeal has ruled. The ruling is final and cannot be appealed.

The court published its reasons a day after the decision. It says there is still a risk that the two men could hide evidence and influence witnesses, but house arrest is enough to contain it.

Gavazov and Revanski are charged with taking part in a criminal conspiracy to trade in influence. Prosecutors said the investigation concerns public procurement in Sungurlare municipality. Hristo Shirokov, the Burgas regional chair of the DPS party, is also charged in the case.

Officers from the GDBOP, the organised crime police, detained the two mayors in special operations on 20 and 21 October. On 22 October the Burgas District Court ordered the toughest measure, remand in custody.

Prosecutors asked for the mayors to stay in custody and defended the District Court's ruling. Between 23 and 28 October they questioned new witnesses and gave the Court of Appeal the records of the questioning of seven of them. The defence disputed that there was enough evidence the mayors took part in a criminal group, and asked for milder measures.

The appeal judges agree that the District Court was right to find a reasonable suspicion that the defendants committed the crime under investigation. Under the European Convention on Human Rights (Article 5, § 1(c)), this means facts or information that would convince an objective observer that the person may have committed an offence. The court says that when it first sets a measure like this, it does not make a final assessment of the evidence and does not decide guilt or criminal responsibility.

For the prosecution, the judges point to witness statements with specific facts about coordinated action by the two men. The statements describe how bidders for public contracts were chosen in advance and promised a win under certain conditions, whatever the competition, and that the aim was financial gain. The records of the questioning of the seven witnesses do not change the finding that the evidence of suspicion is enough, the reasons say.

The court sees no risk that Gavazov and Revanski will flee. House arrest is the next most severe measure. The judges say its restrictions are in proportion to the aim, go no further than the criminal case needs, and protect the public interest.

On 29 October we reported that, according to investigators, the case concerns public procurement in Sungurlare municipality worth about €7m, and that the charges against the two mayors cover the period 2024–2026.

Before the hearing on 29 October, residents of Sungurlare and Belitsa gathered outside the Burgas Palace of Justice to back the mayors. They held banners reading "We are with you, Mr Gavazov" and "Freedom for Revanski" and chanted "Freedom". DPS MP Kalin Stoyanov was among them.