Ex-Chair of Sofia City Court Gets Suspended Sentence

The Sofia City Court on Friday handed a one-year suspended sentence to Vladimira Yaneva, the court's former chair.

Yaneva, who resigned last year, was tried for the so-called "Worms" case after having unlawfully approved permits for the deployment of special surveillance equipment in the period between September 2013 and June 2014, at the time of protests against the previous elected government.

Yaneva is now on a three-year probation.

Todor Kostadinov, a defendant in the same case, was fined BGN 3000 for having misused special surveillance equipment.

The sentence was read out without either Yaneva or Kostadinov being in the courtroom.

Yaneva was found guilty of having authorized twice, between September 12, 2013 and March 25, 2015, an exension of the use of such equipment, which constitutes an offense under current legislation.

The former chair gave her approval despite the fact that the requests did not meet legal requirements by failing to point reasons for wiretapping.