The saga of Georgi Nikolov and the Municipality of Burgas, related to a property in „Akatsiite“ neighborhood of Burgas, continues. He turned again to Iskra.bg to express his indignation and to report that the local government does not comply with decisions of the Constitutional Court. Nikolov claims that „at the moment, the Municipality of Burgas stands above the judicial system“.
„I have many problems with the Municipality in various forms. There are people from Burgas Municipality who say that I insult and slander them, but I think that they want to steal my property without any reason and without any right. They are spending our taxpayers money. I assume that I am not the only one affected by the decisions of the Municipality,“, Nikolov stressed in a special interview with Iskra.bg.
A few days ago, the victim was received by Mayor of Burgas, Dimitar Nikolov, in the presence of Zlatina Georgieva, director of the „Legal and Information Services“ Directorate in the Municipality. According to him, Georgieva told him that „he does not act correctly to them and slanders them“. According to Nikolov, the reason for these actions on the part of the local authorities was a complaint he had launched against the Municipality’s legal advisor Zlatan Hristov.
„During the case at the beginning of March this year, I met Mr. Zlatan Hristov and told him: “There is a decision of the Constitutional Court and you must comply with it,'“, Nikolov recalled in the interview. He pointed out that then he felt that his life was threatened by the words of Zlatan Hristov.
„All this happened to me after 15-16 years of procedures with the Municipality. They sued me for not paying property tax and garbage tax, which is not true. They tried every way to take my property and finally started lawsuits against my property so they could acquire it in an unregulated and illegal way. I was forced to take legal action against the Municipality to get paid for the improvements I made, but apparently the local government wanted to take the property for no money to give to their own people. The Municipality filed an additional lawsuit demanding that I pay them rent. This is a complete paradox – to pay rent on my property. Then they made me pay my taxes three times in one year. This is how they wanted to ruin me,“, the aggrieved citizen stressed.
On this occasion, Nikolov read part of the issued decision of the Constitutional Court:
„There is a Decision No. 3 of the Constitutional Court of 24 February 2022, namely that on 1 January 2018, the Council of Ministers /CM/, did not extend the moratorium and therefore from 31 December 2017 to 19 January 2018, the perpetual effect of the prescriptive possession is revoked. Therefore, the Constitutional Court believes this is contrary to the Constitution itself and Article 4 para. 1, where the State must obey the laws, but the Municipality does not respect them, retroactively returning the legal effect of their moratorium. The Constitutional Court itself says that this cannot be the case because in this case rights are being taken away. When people’s rights are taken away, which is enshrined in Article 17 para. 1 and 3 states that the right to property stands above everything and it is inviolable.“
According to him, it appears that the decisions of the Constitutional Court are binding and have to be implemented. They ensure the supremacy of the Constitution and are mandatory for all state bodies, individuals, citizens and even the National Assembly, as the highest state body.
Georgi Nikolov’s property is nearly 11 acres. He said that his grandfather got it from a Turk in 1913, but he had no papers at the time. According to him, since 1963 there has been a permission ticket, which was issued to legalize the buildings. The notarial deed was issued on the basis of documents in 2012 and 2016. In 2017, the Municipality filed a lawsuit to prove that the property there was state property and therefore became municipal.
„There is no institution that obliges these criminals /Burgas Municipality/ to comply with the Constitution. The Municipality judges and punishes people with sanctions, but with the money of its tax payers. What can be done?“, the victim asked. He is adamant:
„Over 90% of people believe that the justice system lacks fairness. I think there is justice in it, but the institutions – municipalities, ministries, etc., do not implement the decisions of the court.“
Nikolov hopes that after the local elections these vicious and criminal actions of Burgas Municipality will be stopped.
Iskra.bg will continue to follow the case, and our team remains open to all concerned parties to speak out.
