Bulgarian citizen to serve German fraud sentence in Bulgaria

The Varna Appellate Court has upheld a decision to deny the extradition of a 56-year-old Bulgarian man to Germany, ruling that he will serve his six-month prison sentence in Bulgaria instead.

The individual was convicted by the District Court in Saarbrücken for a fraud committed in 2020. Alongside an accomplice, he allegedly misled a client regarding installation services and collected partial payment without performing the work. His original suspended sentence was revoked after he committed a similar offense during his probation period.

While the European Arrest Warrant remains valid and the sentence is enforceable, the court determined that extradition should be refused because the man is a Bulgarian citizen whose family resides in Bulgaria. Pending the execution of the sentence, his restrictive measure has been changed from house arrest to a recognizance (signature) in accordance with recent European Court of Justice procedures. The ruling is final.