Bulgarian Prosecutors should read Bill Browder’s book Red Notice

Yesterday Bulgaria’s Prosecutor General stated: “Tzvetan Vassilev is not and never can be Sergey Magnitsky.” 

He is right. Magnitsky was Bill Browder’s lawyer who was horrifically tortured in the arrest and died. Hence, it is more logical to compare Vassilev to Browder who had an investment fund and lost his money in Russia due to the corruption practices there. The state machine fabricated false charges and tried to destroy him. Magnitsky was the scapegoat who did not betray Browder despite the humiliation and physical violence he was subjected to. His destiny became an inspiration to all human rights defenders around the world.

Corporate Commercial Bank was destroyed by Bulgaria’s state institutions, primarily with the help of the prosecution, and its assets are plundered by businesses affiliated with Bulgaria’s mafia. We all remember the summer of 2014 when the Bulgarian Prosecutor General said that in the case of Corporate Commercial Bank, they had to “go beyond the law.” Not only Bulgaria went beyond the law, but it is consistently enacting new laws ad hoc and applying them retroactively. It also fabricates charges based on false witness statements and false documents. It is difficult to see a rule of law at all!

To make some further clarifications for Bulgaria’s “respected” prosecution enjoying the “impressive” 6% public confidence:

1. The Magnitsky Act is not based on Vassilev’s rules. It is based on established international legal norms, such as the protection of human rights. In other words, the Prosecutor General is not the wrongdoer according to Vassilev’s rules but according to well-established international legal norms.

2. The Prosecution tells Vassilev what address he should put on his contracts with his attorneys…It is really surprising that the Prosecution tells private parties how to word their contracts and what address they should put in it! Has the Bulgarian prosecution heard of ‘freedom of contract’?

3. According to the Bulgarian prosecution, Vassilev relies on the Magnitsky Act to escape justice…Vassilev does not want to escape from justice. He, however, refuses to be judged by Bulgaria’s mafia.

4. The Bulgarian prosecution claims Serbian courts are prolonging the extradition proceedings on purpose…It is really strange that Bulgaria’s prosecution service claims jurisdiction over Serbian courts. It is also strange that it does not respect Serbian law. Well, Bulgaria’s mafia cannot control everything.

5. According to the Bulgarian prosecution, Vassilev uses the Magnitsky Act as a propaganda tool…The purpose of the Magnitsky Act is to sanction corrupt government officials who abuse human rights. It is not a propaganda tool as the Bulgarian prosecution claims.

In conclusion, I would like to remind the audience of the words of the President of the Venice Commission, which advises the Council of Europe on constitutional matters, who commented on Bulgaria’s prosecution model in 2016: “The Soviet model of the prosecution [in Bulgaria] must be decisively turned down. It turns it into a source of corruption and blackmail and creates opportunities for its use for political aims.”

Professor Antoaneta Vassileva, PhD in economics,

currently with a Red Notice issued under the request of Bulgaria’s prosecution