Sofia. The Sofia City Court (SCC) moved Thursday to appoint state defense lawyers to Mario Nikolov and his fellow defendants in the high-profile SAPARD embezzlement case. Thus, the trial against Nikolov is the first in the long list of cases, closely watched by the EU, to invigorate the amendments to the Penal Procedure Code, legally binding as of 28 May 2010.
According to the changes, meant to streamline processes in the judiciary, Bulgarian courts are entitled to appoint state defense lawyers in case their private colleagues fail to appear in the courtroom.
With the new appointments in place, the SAPARD draining case will be back in court on 17 June.
Back on 29 March, the same Court sentenced Nikolov to 10 years behind bars and his wife, Mariana, to 8 years in another notorious SAPARD case. The two were charged, along with Lyudmil Stoykov, with laundering the money drained from SAPARD. Stoykov was acquitted by the Court.