Ex-banker Tsvetan Vassilev who is hiding out in Serbia to escape justice commissions media onslaughts and films targeting the sworn enemy of the oligarchy in Bulgaria – Delyan Peevski. The lawmaker of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) and publisher of Telegraph Media for years has been the target of the backstage power brokers owing to his legislative initiatives aimed to forestall their shady affairs as well as to the journalistic inquires published in his media outlets.

Amidst a picturesque beech forest at the end of a meandering road high up in the Ruen Mountain, over the small village of Skrino and near the town of Kyustendil, stands the Ruen Monastery of St Ivan of Rila. The saint after whom the monastery is named was born in that village circa 876. An older monastery, dedicated to Great Martyr St Demetrius of Thessaloniki, existed at the same place before. Experts presume that St Ivan of Rila took the monastic vows there and then started his secluded life in a cave which is preserved until today, not far away from the present monastery.

A new desperate campaign against the enemies of its mentors – indicted oligarch Ivo Prokopiev and fugitive banker Tsvetan Vassilev – has been launched by the cohort of former employees of the head of the Capital circle that is now ostensibly working for the pretentiously named NGO Anti-Corruption Fund. This operation masked as an investigation has several goals.

Georgi Georgiev, leader of the quasi-NGO BOETS has hit the moral rock bottom when he made his family drama a weapon in an odious political hole-and-corner intrigue. Quite expectedly this nefarious suggestion was readily picked up by the organised media group of the oligarchy. And washing dirty linen in public was presented as a pursuit of high moral principles.

Nikolay Malinov, who is charged with spying for two Russian organisations, has left Bulgaria and appeared in Moscow. Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov reacted immediately to the development by asking the Inspectorate to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) to open an inquiry into Specialised Criminal Court judge Andon Mitalov, who permitted Malinov to travel to Russia in contravention with the Penal Procedure Code (PPC).

Pursuant to 100 per cent processed tally sheets from the November 3 local election run-offs by the Central Election Commission (CEC), the ruling GERB party wins nine regional capitals, the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), four, and coalitions and independent runners win five. Run-off elections were held in 18 regional capitals, including the capital Sofia.

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov conferred with Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek in Sofia on Tuesday, the government information service said.

Apropos of a remark made by French President Emmanuel Macron Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva has ordered on Saturday Bulgarian Ambassador in Paris Angel Cholakov to present a note of protest to the French Foreign Ministry. 

Civil forfeiture bears no relation to the result of the criminal proceedings, reads the statement of Eleanor Sharpston, Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the European Union. The statement was made in response to the interlocutory enquiry by Judge Katerina Encheva of Sofia City Court in the case of the Commission for Anti-Corruption and Illegal Assets Forfeiture (ACCIAF) concerning the forfeiture of assets of the fugitive banker Tsvetan Vassilev who is hiding out in Serbia after he syphoned off CorpBank.

The smallest Bulgarian town, Melnik - with a population of less than 200 people - was first mentioned in written sources in the early 11th century as a border point between the Byzantine Empire and Bulgaria. The first to live in the region were the Thracian tribe of Medi, to which the legendary gladiator Spartacus belonged. Centuries later, the Slavs settled in the area naming the town Melnik, from the word 'mel' for white clay. It is namely clay that the fantastic red golden sand hills surrounding the town are made of.