US withdraws extradition request for Bulgarian national Zhelyaz Andreev

The USA has officially withdrawn the extradition request for Bulgarian national Zhelyaz Andreev, Bulgaria’s Prime Minister said at a briefing in the Council of Ministers on 31^st of October The USA pointed out that maintaining the extradition request would be pointless given the reasons outlined in a letter by the Bulgarian Justice Ministry and the Prosecutor General to the US Department of Justice.

The 29 year old Zhelyaz Andreev was arrested this April in his home city of Dobrich (Northeastern Bulgaria) in connection with a Miami investigation against eleven individuals, including five Bulgarians, suspected of violating the US trade embargo against Syria.

Andreev and several others of the accused worked for the Sofia office of AW-Tronics,a Miami-based company, registered in Sofia..It sold parts for Syrian aircraft airplanes that the investigating authorities claimed to be related to terrorist activity.

From a regular employee of the call centre, Andreev turned into a person circulated as wanted by an Interpol red notice.

The decision for the withdrawal of the extradition request comes after several months of negotiations between the two countries.

PM Botrissov described the situation as exceptionally complex. He thanked the state department, the Us Justice Minister, the Attorney General and the US ambassador to Bulgaria, Eric Rubin.