The Sofia Appellate Court recently upheld a ruling from a first-instance court, denying the request for an early release of Evelin “Brendo” Banev, who is currently incarcerated in Sofia for drug trafficking charges. The initial court panel determined that Banev has not completed more than half of his stipulated sentence, which is a prerequisite for considering the second condition for such release. Consequently, the panel found no basis to evaluate the second condition pertaining to good behavior.
Prosecutor Gergana Kyurkchiyska stated that Banev failed to provide conclusive evidence demonstrating that the time already served had achieved a corrective purpose. Evelin Banev was initially arrested in 2012 during a joint Bulgarian-Italian law enforcement operation. In 2013, he received a 20-year prison sentence in Italy related to involvement in an international cocaine-trafficking ring.
In July 2018, the Sofia City Prosecution Office issued a European Arrest Warrant to locate him for the serving of a six-year sentence, as his whereabouts were unknown. Banev, who had been subject to Interpol Red Notices since 2018, surrendered to Bulgarian authorities on June 24, 2024, and was taken to Sofia’s Central Prison. Subsequently, Banev requested that the Bulgarian court allow him to serve the sentences imposed in Italy and Romania within Bulgaria.
At a parliamentary hearing on June 28, 2024, caretaker Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov stated that the Interior Ministry possessed information indicating Banev entered Bulgaria by plane between late March 2022 and early June 2022. In April 2025, the SCC ruled that Banev would serve a total prison sentence of ten years and six months in Bulgaria for crimes committed in Bulgaria, Romania, and Italy, deducting time already served in detention in Italy and Sofia.
Topics: #court #banev #early
