MP Vesselin Mareshki sentenced to 4 years of imprisonment for blackmail

The Court of Appeals in Varna overturned the acquittal of the District Court and imposed a 4-year effective sentence for extortion of the leader of volya party and Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Vesselin Mareshki. He is also sentenced to pay a fine of BGN 8,000.

In the same case, the businesswoman Krassimira Koleva was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months of imprisonment and a fine of BGN 6,000.

The two were found guilty of blackmailing the owner of a pizza restaurant in Varna, Assen Milanov, for a month in 2014, and they wanted him to pay BGN 10,000 every month for a loan of BGN 65,000.

According to the indictment, he was threatened that his restaurant would be demolished and his business suspended.

The appellate court will announce its reasons for the sentence within two months. It can be appealed to the Supreme Court of Cassation.

Later, Veselin Mareshki announced his official position:

I have not committed any crime and therefore I have no hesitation or concern. What am I accused of de facto - that I helped to demolish an illegal building - ie. I wanted the law to be obeyed!

I was involved in the whole story because I wanted to help a man who was crushed by people with money, with network connections, with the inaction of the prosecution. It had a strong ambition that I be convicted, and in its efforts to do so, it even accused a judge of wanting to take a bribe in the case, but when the judge was acquitted, nothing happened to the prosecutor. That says a lot about the way it works. It is ridiculous to claim that I wanted to receive BGN 10,000 from someone through threats or illegal actions. The volume of my business - pharmacies and petrol stations - shows that such a statement is more than frivolous, Mareshki says.

I believe that the time for this sentence was deliberately chosen so that the European report on September 23 can state that Bulgaria has already very successfully sentenced the so-called oligarchs or business people, whom the prosecution declares to be such. Obviously, I am very convenient target for them at the moment - on the one hand, some declare me close to the government, because I have somehow supported the initiative of GERB. But on the other hand – my party Volya has always been the opposition and in no way participates in the government, ie. we are not their "favourate" child - others are those who have been pushing for this role for years. Apparently someone wants us to be used as a scapegoat and to demonstrate some "successes" at our expense.

My lawyers will appeal within the legal deadline. I will not succumb to another attempt of pressure. God is watching from above! I believe the truth will prevail, he noted.