The case for the road to Ahmed Dogan’s summer barns in „Rosenets“ Park has been postponed. It was filed by the companies “Hermes Solar” LTD and Straightline PLC against the decision of the Municipal Council in Burgas from July 2020. It canceled the scandalous vote of April 28 last year, which passed the way into private hands.
Today, the judge of the Administrative Court in Burgas did not proceed with the case because there are third parties who want to be constituted in it. These are individuals and civil society organizations that have already filed other lawsuits in the case. On February 3, the court refused to have them constituted, but the decision was appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court. For this reason, the judge ruled that the decision of the supreme magistrates should be awaited, so the case was adjourned until May 17.
Today’s meeting was attended by representatives of civil society organizations and municipal councilor Konstantin Bachiyski, who from the first moment fought to prevent the road to Dogan’s summer barns from passing into private hands. He told reporters that the Municipality of Burgas does not use its strongest asset in this case, which would certainly ensure its victory:
„The Municipality of Burgas and the lawyer of the Municipal Council do not use the strongest argument at their disposal, and that is to ask the court to make an incidental control for the nullity of the decision of April 28, which way from public municipal property to private hands. This is not clear to me and I have talked many times with the Municipal Council why the strongest trump card is not used. Even more controversial is that the lawyer of the Municipal Council then told me that these trump cards could not be used because he had to defend the old decision of the Municipal Council from April to give the road into private hands, which is against other cases. We currently have a case for the entry into force of the DDP and on which there is still no final decision. Given that not only the public interest, but also the desire of the Municipal Council is the road to remain in municipal hands, I do not see what could be the reason to defend these old decisions, which give the way to the companies managing the shed. This is shocking to me. And now I spoke with the jurist of the Municipal Council. She also initially told me that she did not make her own decisions. He later tried to back away from those words, but for me the best move was for the Municipal Council lawyer to ask the court to annul the April decision.“
When asked by Iskra.bg on what grounds such nullity can be requested, with which in practice the decision to cross the road into private hands will no longer be valid, Bachiyski explained that this could happen at the request of one of the parties. The owners of the sheds have no interest in declaring it null and void, so it can be requested by the Municipal Council.
„It appears from the actions that the Municipality has no interest in this thing happening definitively. Rather, it looks at how the case subsides over time and allows the other party to appeal. Because when the decision is declared null and void, the case is terminated and the other party has no right to appeal at all. The case is over. It is, as they say, like an atomic bomb – it is thrown and the war is over. The strongest weapon we can defend ourselves with, but the Municipality has so far refused to use it.“,Bachiyski added.
When asked by Iskra.bg whose interests the Municipality of Burgas was defending at the time, he answered:
„It should protect the interests of citizens, but I doubt it always happens. There are many cases we have worked on and this is not the case, I can give the example of the hospital in Meden Rudnik, which was illegally sold without a tender and competition, at a price of almost a million and a half below the tax assessment in violation of regulations in the country, so I have seen many such cases in which the Municipality has made a decision not in the interest of the citizens. That is why it is very important to have vigilant people to protect the public interest. Here we have representatives of civil society organizations and citizens who are not indifferent to the protection of public interests. As you can see, even after I broke my leg in training, I’m still at work with crutches. As a municipal councilor, I continue to fight for every irregularity I see. This case started about a year ago and a year later we continue to be on the line and fighting. That is, the struggle is not for someone to come, take pictures twice and leave. The struggle is daily, with a lot of effort, with a lot of energy and takes a lot of time. We started a year ago, we will continue until the end!„
Iskra.bg also wanted to hear the position of the legal adviser of the Municipal Council of Burgas, but she said that she could not speak in front of us because there was no permission from the Chairwoman Sevdalina Turmanova from GERB.
