Bulgaria will extradite Ivan Dimov, a former member of the Bulgarian Supreme Judicial Council, to Austria as he is wanted there on alleged money laundering of €170,000, the Plovdiv Court of Appeal ruled on Tuesday.
In January, prosecutors in Wels, Austria, issued a European Arrest Warrant against Dimov for allegedly transferring €170,800 from Austrian bank accounts to various Bulgarian accounts between March 14 and May 10, 2022.
In its decision, the Court of Appeal found that the European Arrest Warrant issued by Austria was in accordance with the law and that criminal proceedings against Dimov for the same offense had not yet been initiated in Bulgaria.
In contrast, the investigations launched in Austria show that the Austrian judicial authorities have a considerable amount of information, including on the activities of many foreign nationals, the court ruled.
Austria has also given assurances that Dimov will be sent back to Bulgaria to serve any prison sentence that may have been imposed on him.
The case will become a symbol of Austria’s criminal repression against a Bulgarian lawyer, Dimov said of the case against him.
“Austria is a country that has not shed the remnants of its fascist past,” said Dimov. His defense even claims he was “chosen” because Austria vetoed Bulgaria’s Schengen entry.
Dimov is currently the Chairman of the International Court of Arbitration of the Alliance for Legal Interaction. He was not only a member of the Supreme Judicial Council from 2007 to 2010, but also a military judge, Member of Parliament (1997-2001) and President of the District Court in Sliven.
As a member of the Supreme Judicial Council, Dimov was involved in a lobbying scandal that forced him to resign. He later returned to the District Court in Sliven but was eventually dismissed on disciplinary grounds over the scandal.
Source: Euractiv