The prosecutor's office has been ordered to pay compensation of BGN 125,000 to the former head of the National Revenue Agency (NAA) Maria Murgina.

This is clear from a decision of the Sofia Court of Appeal (SAC), by which it increases by 95,000 BGN the compensation awarded at first instance by the city court, "Lex" reports.

Two years ago, Murgina filed a claim for BGN 200,000 against the prosecutor's office under the Law on State and Municipal Liability for Damages (ZODOV) because of the case against her for official crimes, coercion and document crimes, which lasted 7 years and in the end she was fully acquitted.

In her complaint, she claimed that the illegal accusations caused her permanent health problems, stress, fear of judgment, humiliation, damage to her prestige and the inability to work for a long time in her profession.

The case against her was finally closed in 2016, but in 2011 a city court had sentenced her to 4 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of official misconduct and coercion.

The prosecutor's office dropped the rest of the charges even then.

However, another 6 years followed, in which the appellate court fully acquitted her in the second instance, and the Supreme Court of Cassation (SCC) overturned the sentence by which Murgina was acquitted of coercion and returned the case for a new trial.

The charge of coercion was that Murgina forced the former head of the NRA-Silistra, Milena Tsolchovska, to leave her post by threatening her with a disciplinary dismissal.

During the court hearings, it became clear that, according to the prosecutor's office, the reason for the pressure was audits of companies of the former DPS MP Gunay Sefer, with which Murgina did not agree.

Tsolchovska claimed that the pressure on her and the strained relations with her deputy in the National Administrative Agency-Silistra were precisely because of audits of Sefer's companies.

The Supreme Court finally acquitted the former head of the National Narcotics Agency Maria Murgina

Two panels of the Supreme Court found it undisputed that Murgina had verbally threatened Tsolchovska and stated that it was unclear why the appeals court did not consider this, nor was it convincing in its reasons for rejecting Tsolchovska's testimony.

At the third hearing of the case, the SAS again acquitted the former head of the National Narcotics Agency, accepting as obvious that the accusation was only declarative, but did not contain anything about Murgina's actions.

Finally, the Supreme Court decided that the evidence was clearly contradictory and did not presuppose a certain conclusion that after the meeting between the two, Murgina personally threatened Tsolchovska with dismissal over the phone.

Last year, the city court awarded the former head of the NRA compensation of BGN 30,000 due to the moral damages caused by the illegal accusations, as testimony was given by Murgina's former secretary and the man with whom she lives on a conjugal basis.

They spoke of the extreme stress she experienced during the trial and quoted former Sofia Deputy City Prosecutor Roman Vassilev, who, after Murgina was indicted in 2009, said that all NRA officials associated with her " they must have the fear of the prosecution, because it will reach each of them".

Then Murgina fell into complete despair, often looked at one point and began to degrade her physical condition.

The appointed medical examination also showed a connection between the severe stress experienced and Murgina's illnesses, and the wide publicity of the case further contributed to the damages suffered.

Appellate judges Asya Sabeva (chairman of the panel), Daniela Hristova (reporter) and Kristina Filipova accept that Murgina has undoubtedly suffered the negative consequences of the illegal accusations, explicitly emphasizing the serious consequences of Roman Vasilev's statements.

According to the SAS, the conclusion of a complex forensic medical examination in the case shows that due to the nervous and emotional tension experienced by the deputy city prosecutor's statement, Murgina had high blood pressure, her blood sugar increased and she began to suffer from insomnia.

However, the second instance states that when determining fair compensation, the great responsibility of the position that Murgina held must be taken into account and that two of the accusations are related to her position, with the court stressing that a higher position implies a higher compensation.

"The amount of the compensation awarded does not correspond to any of the illegal charges, nor to all of them", the SAS is categorical and recalls that for two charges Murgina was sentenced to 4 years in prison, and that for coercion was maintained 7 years.

"When compensating such illegal accusations, it should be taken into account that they were brought against a senior public official, therefore the compensation due should be determined not only separately for each of the accusations, but also taking into account the fact that this official was a person of great popularity in society, highly educated and was charged with the duties of leading a reform project," the decision said.

Thus, the SAC decided that Murgina should be compensated with 40,000 BGN only for the charge of crime in office, for which she was initially convicted, another 50,000 BGN for the charge of coercion, which was maintained for 7 years, for which the appellate judges note , that it is a serious intentional crime and "has a negative impact on the qualities of a senior civil servant charged with personnel administrative responsibilities as the head of an agency."

According to the SAS, compensation of BGN 30,000 is also subject to the other crime in service, for which Murgina was accused, and the accusation of document crime with another BGN 5,000.

According to the SAC, the motives of the city court, which awarded only 30,000 BGN in total to Murgina, were detailed and clear, but the amount of compensation was unfounded and did not correspond to the established damages.

The decision of the SAC is also not final and can be appealed to the Supreme Court of Cassation.

benefits

Maria Murgina