“As long as Geshev is chief prosecutor, you will do whatever we say”: Yavor Zlatanov’s version of “The Eight Dwarfs” – Bulgaria

Threats to life, drastically deteriorating health, leading to disability, arrests, extortion and pressure. This is the summary of the point of view of Yavor Zlatanov – a partner with his father Iliya Zlatanov in the elevator plants “Izamet” and the missing voice in the history of the prosecutorial network “Eight Dwarfs”, led by former head of the capital Petyo Petrov-Fifth Euro.

More than a year ago, the Anti-Corruption Fund in a series of several episodes told how in an attempt to resolve a dispute over the assets of the Izamet group of companies in its favor, Iliya Zlatanov turned to the Fifth Euro for assistance. According to him, at a meeting at the Eight Dwarfs restaurant, Petrov promised him prompt intervention by the prosecutor’s office in his favor. Shortly afterwards, Yavor Zlatanov, his mother and sister were detained in a case by the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office as part of an organized criminal group. In an interview, the first part of which was broadcast on Monday (October 4th) to Nikolay Staykov and former prosecutor Andrei Yankulov of the Anti-Corruption Fund, Yavor Zlatanov described details of the extortion to transfer his shares in the family business to former magistrate Petyo Evroto’s wife. happened to his confiscated personal assets (cash and gold) for over BGN 5 million, as well as how doctors were threatened as part of the pressure.

Since the time he spent in custody, his health has seriously deteriorated (one of his kidneys has been removed and the other is not fully functioning and he has a high degree of disability). Yavor Zlatanov accepts that this was part of the pressure on him. In the conversation he very often says that the organized criminal group belongs to the Fifth Euro and to Iliya Zlatanov, mentioning in examples the names of the former and the current Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov and Ivan Geshev.

First episode of the investigation – here
Second episode – here
Third episode – here
Fourth episode – here
Analysis of the facts of the investigation – here

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“You will remain in prison until you disappear”

In the interview, in which Yavor Zlatanov’s wife Emilia also took part, they told about a meeting in February 2020 in a private club “Kohiba” on San Stefano Street in Sofia, arranged through an intermediary, where Zlatanov had to receive an offer to buy his shares. A woman is present, who refuses to say her name, but then Zlatanov realizes that she is Desislava Kotseva’s lawyer.

Lawyer Kotseva was also part of the plot of the other episodes of “The Eight Dwarfs”. In Iliya Zlatanov’s version, she also blackmailed him into transferring his shares in the Izamet company to a person appointed by Petyo Petrov-Pepi Euroto. Kotseva is also the person who arranged the meetings between the former chairman of the Sofia City Court Vladimira Yaneva and the former judge Rumyana Chenalova, from which recordings leaked some time ago.

“This woman we met refused to say her name, but then we found out that this was Desislava Kotseva’s lawyer. This woman behaves like the most brutal mutter I have ever met in my life,” said Yavor Zlatanov. According to him, she made a number of threats to him. “She told me that my baby would be left without a father, that her superiors would put me in prison and I would never get out of there. I don’t know who you call Pepi Euroto, but Mr. Petrov is a very influential person. And for the next seven years “As long as Ivan Geshev is the chief prosecutor, you will do exactly what we tell you, because if you don’t, you will sit in prison until you disappear,” Zlatanov recalled Kotseva’s remarks. His wife Emilia confirms them, who defines the meeting not as one for receiving an offer, but as a meeting where some people tell other people what will happen.

At this meeting, Zlatanov received a deadline of March 10, 2020 to transfer his shares. This did not happen and on March 16 he was detained again. As on the day of his arrest, he was to be on hemodialysis. The continuation of his story will be broadcast in a new episode by the end of this week, the Anti-Corruption Fund announced.

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Background

Yavor Zlatanov says that he and his partner – Iliya Zlatanov, “have developed a very successful company for the production of elevators.” “At the beginning of 2017, he told me that he wanted to sell me his shares in our joint company. We specified the parameters of the deal, we agreed. A few months later, Iliya Zlatanov decided he did not want to be a pensioner and asked for it back. In 2019, I started hearing from common acquaintances that he was signing documents for a lot of money with which he owed Petyo Petrov-Petyo the Euro, and that I would be smeared.I did not take Elijah seriously because I did nothing illegally, “Zlatanov said.

In July 2019, he was arrested along with his mother and sister and charged with a criminal group for racketeering and extortion. On the day of his arrest, he said, prosecutors confiscated money (over 550,000 euros in cash) and gold coins from his safes. While he was detained, he received information that he would be released only if he transferred the remaining shares in the company to the person indicated by the Fifth Euro. He spent the following months in hospital until the prosecutor’s office changed his remand in custody.

“I was maimed by these people. At that moment, when my condition was known, someone in the specialized prosecutor’s office decided that I could die while I was being crushed in this way, and I was released on bail. But I was in the hospital because I was they were learning to walk, I was taking 2-3 steps a day. I was 93% disabled when I was discharged from the hospital, “Zlatanov said. “After seeing that I would survive, they kept up the pressure to transfer their shares – neighbors, acquaintances and strangers warned and advised me. I saw that these people were very, very strong.”

Zlatanov says that his daughter Bella – from her first marriage to host Radost Draganova – told him that her mother had told her. “I want you to know that my boyfriend is the biggest prosecutor in Bulgaria and your father will not be released soon.” Zlatanov claims that his ex-wife’s friend is former Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov.

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