Law

The U.S. Supreme Court has given Türkiye's state-owned lender Halkbank another chance to avoid criminal charges in the United States for allegedly helping Iran evade American economic sanctions, but rejected a key defense mounted by the bank.

Freedom of Information, FOI, Laws in the Western Balkans are over a decade old. Even though almost all countries monitored by BIRN have laws that are considered well-written, their value is often only on paper, speakers from the region told BIRN's panel discussion, "Freedom of Information in the Balkans: Calls Not Answered".

Montenegrin state prosecutor Vukas Radonjic at a conference in Podgorica. Photo: PR Centar

On October 14, 2021, the Basic Prosecution in Podgorica detained the two police officers, Aleksandar Boskovic and Sasa Djurovic, for allowing Belivuk and Miljkovic to enter the country.

The Sofia District Prosecutor's Office will prosecute a Ukrainian and two Syrians for being traffickers.

The three were detained in an apartment in the residential complex "Zapaden Park" in the city of Sofia. In order to obtain for themselves a property benefit, the accused V.K., K.D. and M.M. assisted 40 Syrian citizens to stay in Bulgaria illegally.

Police on Monday announced the arrest of a Greek man in Thessaloniki in northern Greece who was wanted in Germany for drug dealing, based on a European arrest warrant. 

The 39-year-old had an arrest warrant issued against him by Germany after 447.88 grams of cocaine were found on his business premises in February last year. 

The first meeting of the new parliament will be on Wednesday, April 12, announced the presidential administration.

The head of state signed the decree today on the basis of Art. 75 of the Constitution.

The deputies will gather in the National Assembly at 10:00 a.m.

The initiative committee, supported by the "Vazrazhdane" party, submitted 590,000 signatures to the Bulgaria parliament for a referendum on preserving the Bulgarian lev (BGN).

"The founders of Nexo, Antoni Trenchev and Kosta Kanchev, do not appear on either the Interpol or Europol lists, as they have not been issued red notices and European arrest warrants." This is what the Nexo company said in a press release.

Gulyas's above statement, therefore, can be seen as yet another example of his government's toadying attitude towards Russia. As it is highly unlikely that Putin would travel to Hungary or any other country in the EU, the problem of arresting him will never materialise, so Gulyas probably feels able to lie about the ICC statute without any risk.

The European Prosecutor's Office is conducting searches in Sofia, Bulgaria as part of an investigation into corruption and abuse of European funds for the restoration of the historic center of the city, including the famous yellow paving stones, the prosecutor's office reports. The damage amounts to at least 3 million euros.