The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled that Bulgaria violated the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial against MEP Elena Yoncheva.
In 2019, Bulgarian prosecutors opened a criminal case against Yoncheva for laundering money from the Corporate Commercial Bank. The prosecutor’s office was subsequently criticised for allegations that she knowingly participated in a large-scale money laundering operation. The court stated that such statements should be made with restraint due to the presumption of innocence.
The Strasbourg Court ordered Bulgaria to pay Yoncheva 8,000 euros. The European Parliament also refused to lift the MEP’s immunity, saying that the Bulgarian prosecutor’s office had sought to damage the MEP’s political activities rather than seek justice.
The European Parliament’s decision meant Bulgaria’s case was put on hold. Months before the country brought the case, Yoncheva had outraged the GERB government with revelations about faulty construction of motorways and a border fence with Turkey, as well as malpractices in building renovations carried out with public money.
Yoncheva claimed that the bank sponsored her to make documentary films. In her appeal, the Bulgarian MEP said that the prosecutors’ accusations of money laundering were absurd, as in 2012 no one in the country suspected that crimes were being committed at the bank.
