Legal proceedings against local officials in Balkans

Legal actions have been initiated against former municipal leaders in the Balkan region regarding allegations of corruption and misuse of authority.

In Strumica, former Mayor Kostadin Kostadinov and two others face criminal charges for abuse of official position and falsification of documents. The Ministry of Internal Affairs alleges the suspects used a falsified technical report to illegally remove municipal objects from records, allowing a private individual to unlawfully acquire approximately 866 square meters of state land. Kostadinov has denied the allegations, claiming his actions followed legal procedures and characterizing the charges as “political intrigue.”

In Petrich, Bulgaria, the European Public Prosecutor's Office has indicted Mayor Dimitar Brachkov for fraud involving the misuse of European Union funds. The indictment alleges that funds from the INTERREG V-A Greece-Bulgaria program, intended for the renovation of former military barracks into a museum, were used to construct an entirely new building instead. Prosecutors claim the mayor concealed the demolition of the original structures to bypass EU funding restrictions. Brachkov faces a potential prison sentence of two to eight years.