The Assassination Attempt and Resignation Request of Ivan Geshev: Testimonies and Evidence Unveiled

Personnel began watching a recording of Ivan Geshev’s May 15 statement, when he broke his resignation and then uttered the phrase “political trash.”

The recording was admitted into evidence on motion. After him, the questioning of Yasen Todorov and Borislav Sarafov began.

“After the attack on him, the chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev was scattered and chaotic, jumping from topic to topic”. This is what the deputy head of the investigation Yasen Todorov told the Supreme Court of Justice.

Todorov expressed regret that he was not heard on the first request for Geshev’s resignation, which was withdrawn. It was about the presence of the Israeli expert at the scene of the attack. Deputy the head of the investigation distributed leaflets to the academy where the expert teaches.

Yasen Todorov and Borislav Sarafov will clarify Geshev’s emotional state

“Certainly between May 1 and 14, he did not meet with the chief prosecutor. Maybe we exchanged a few text messages,” the investigator pointed out. On May 4, they talked about Todorov’s future business trip. Then Geshev told him that after the attack he hardly slept. While waiting in front of the SJC, Todorov also spoke with the NSO guards. “Each of you can ask him and make sure that this is not an explosion to intimidate, but to kill,” said Todorov.

On May 14, in the early afternoon, Geshev called Todorov. He asked to meet and the investigator visited him at his home. There he found out that the chief prosecutor had spoken with Yordan Stoev from the Supreme Court of Justice and the two discussed Geshev’s future resignation and his reassignment to the Supreme Administrative Prosecutor’s Office. The chief prosecutor told Todorov that for some time there had been pressure on him to leave and that he had been offered various diplomatic posts. “I have no choice, I am leaning against the wall,” Geshev said.

He told Todorov that he would not resign. He worried that if he did, there would be pressure on magistrates believed to be close to Geshev. He warned him that if he did not resign, there would probably be amendments to the NPC so that he would be removed. “Actually, that happened,” added Todorov. And he pointed out that Geshev was worried about a decrease in the number of votes with which the chief prosecutor was removed. Even then, Todorov warned that he would attack such a text in the Constitutional Court. He was worried, however, that they would remove him very quickly before the SC had ruled.

Todorov knew Geshev as a mentally stable person, with ordered and organized thinking. On May 14, he was “scattered and chaotic, jumping from topic to topic”. Todorov attributed it to the experience of the attack.

The deputy head of the investigation also told how he happened to have lunch with the Israeli expert. He said that if such an attack had occurred in his country, the entire contingent would have been locked down in order to obtain operational information as quickly as possible. The man then offered to go and have a look himself, but indicated that it would be non-binding and official help would have to be sought. Then Todorov wrote an e-mail to Geshev, who told the man to go and have a look.

Even before the two arrived at the scene of the attack, Borislav Sarafov said that the explosion was to kill, Todorov pointed out. He explained that the expert indicated that the place was extremely suitable for planting a bomb. It was right at a bend where the speed is reduced. That is why the expert said that the assassination had been prepared for months. He assumed that Geshev’s route was followed by a drone and a pilot car, and the explosion was triggered remotely.

Staffers watched a tape of Ivan Geshev’s May 15 statement, when he tendered his resignation and then uttered the phrase “political garbage. The tape was admitted into evidence in the motion to remove the attorney general. It’s 45 minutes long.

During the hearing at the SCC, the Deputy Chief Procurator and Director of the National Investigation Service Borislav Sarafov stated that he spoke with Ivan Geshev on May 14, when the conversation was friendly. However, a day later and an hour before his briefing, he was already negative and hostile towards him.

The SJC also heard the employee of the press center of the prosecutor’s office, Marcela Panteleeva.

“Ivan Geshev was worried, confused. He was required to monitor what was happening. The peak tension was on May 13, when he received the letter at the airport,” said Panteleeva.

She is an employee of the Prosecutor’s Office press center and accompanied the Prosecutor General in Turkey and the USA in May. Panteleeva was questioned by the SJC regarding the emotional state of the chief prosecutor after the attack and the threatening letter he received.

Her questioning began around 10:05 p.m.

“We arrived at a government terminal, while they were looking at our documents, a driver from the prosecutor’s office came and gave us an envelope. At one point, the chief prosecutor’s behavior changed, he froze, became angry, became enraged, then tore up the letter,” said Marcela Panteleeva.

This is the letter that also talks about Winnie the Pooh. It is still unclear who wrote it. Geshev has so far said he has suspicions, but has not named a specific name.

Minister Atanas Slavov said that it is scandalous that an employee of the prosecutor’s office came to the VIP hall of the airport and handed over a threatening letter to the chief prosecutor.

On the one hand, it is said that there is political interference, on the other, it is said that there is a threatening letter and it is assumed who it is, commented the Minister of Justice.

Gergana Mutafova asked who the driver was and asked Geshev to tell the names of this employee so that they would invite him to take explanations.

Geshev announced that he would have to clarify domestic details. On May 5, when he left for the USA, he had taken one passport, but the visa was in another perforated passport. Geshev found this out at the airport. However, there was no one at his home, so an employee of the prosecutor’s office had to call a locksmith to break the lock in order to bring him the passport with the visa. And the driver was Yordan (Dancho) Yordanov.

Gergana Mutafova requested a closed session to clarify who delivered the letter. And Geshev demanded that the cameras be seized, so that it could be seen that what he was saying was true.

Then the personnel again started making requests for evidence.

The session of the SJC started at 9.30 am. It remains to be seen how long it will last.

The meeting is related to a speech by the chief prosecutor during a press conference on May 15, in which he used the expression “political garbage”, which, according to the petitioners, undermines the prestige of the judiciary, writes BTA.

We remind you that the personnel decided to listen to the director of the National Investigative Service (NSI) Borislav Sarafov and his deputy Yasen Todorov in connection with the emotional state of the chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev due to the explosion next to the car in which he was traveling, the day before the press conference and minutes before her. Geshev explained that an emotional state can lead to aggression and the use of different means of expression.

The SJC terminated the first request for the release of Ivan Geshev

The plenum accepted part of the requests for evidence of the chief prosecutor and the proponents of the proposal, as well as to listen to the recording of the press conference at which Geshev used the expression for which the proposal for his release was made.

Next Thursday is a reasonable deadline to remove me. There’s no sense in this rush. This was stated by Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev at 11:00 p.m., when the SJC was still debating the request for the release of Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev. Personnel have been sitting for 14 hours on the topic of whether to release Ivan Geshev.

Minister Atanas Slavov reiterated that he is available to the SJC in the coming days.

Evgeni Ivanov called on personnel to give Geshev the opportunity to organize his defense.

Kalina Chapkanova proposed to continue the meeting on Friday. She added that the SJC can also sit on Saturdays.