A RECORD PACE
It took Sofia City Court half a day to start and end a case against independent MP Pavel Chernev. On November 20, Chernev, a former member of ultra-nationalist Ataka party, was sentenced to pay 1000 leva to Ivailo Dachov. Dachov, a member of one of Ataka’s rival nationalist parties, was injured in an assault by Chernev last February, the court found. Chernev said that the political status quo was the reason for the sentence.

MAXIM STAVIISKI
On November 20, the Bourgas office of the Prosecutor-General’s Office forwarded to court an indictment against double-world skating champion Maxim Staviiski, opening the way for the start of his trial on charges of causing the death of one person and injuring another two in August this year, when Staviiski’s Hummer was involved in a collision with another car. Media reports said that blood tests showed that Staviiski was over the legal blood-alcohol limit while driving.

TEACHERS AGAIN
About 100 teachers protested outside Parliament on November 20 against the funds provided for education in the draft Budget for next year. Teachers want 4.7 per cent of GDP to be allocated to education and science, while the draft bill provides for 4.2 per cent. On November 16, MPs approved the first reading of the Budget Bill with no amendments. The bill’s provisions include a flat rate of 10 per cent personal income tax.

PRIVILEGES
In a November 20 media statement, the office of President Georgi Purvanov replied to Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov’s comments about problems with traffic in Sofia and the use of motorcades by the president, the speaker of Parliament and the prime minister. “According to official data, between October 1 and November 21 President Purvanov has used motorcades 78 times while Borissov has used them 84 times. The only state visit in Bulgaria during that time was that by French president Nicolas Sarkozy which ended in six hours, hardly a problem for Sofia traffic,” the letter said. At the same time, the media office also said that Purvanov was not going to approve the amendments to the Law of Corporate Income Taxation concerning tax relief for companies dealing with gambling.
 
RECOUNTS
On November 20 the Administrative Court in Stara Zagora ordered a second manual recount of ballots for municipal council elections in Stara Zagora. In a separate court case, the Administrative Court in Veliko Turnovo ordered a manual recount of the ballots for all 56 election divisions in the municipality of Svishtov. The same day, the court in Sofia rejected all complaints against the election for mayor in the city.