2024-09-23 08:03:26
The district court left him, Boyan Zelenkov and Vasko Asenov in custody so as not to hinder the investigation
The americium tiles, found in the property of the 61-year-old animal breeder from Karlovo, Georgi Kulov, were in his possession for years. He did not keep them in his home, but in a villa near the city. However, he categorically did not know that they were a radioactive substance, but simply that it was something expensive.
Kulov’s lawyer Rosen Dimitrov said this before the man was brought before the district court in Plovdiv. On Sunday, the magistrates decided whether Kulov, Vasko Asenov from Plovdiv and Boyan Zelenkov from the village of Parvenets should remain behind bars.
Georgi and Boyan were detained on September 19 during an operation by the Ministry of the Interior, the State Security Service and the Prosecutor’s Office. The investigators found 80 tiles with the isotope, a source of ionizing radiation. 44 of them were transported in a car on the ring road of Plovdiv, 35 in the Karlovo villa, and the last – in a house in Parvenets. Two other men were initially detained, but the prosecutor’s office did not charge them. A day later, however, Vasko was brought to criminal responsibility after investigators found another tile in a brick in the fence of his yard.
The supervising prosecutor Slavena Kostova announced already on Friday that the men wanted to sell the plates at a price of 5,000 euros per piece. Interior Minister Atanas Ilkov, however, assured that
not a single tile has reached a buyer,
as the men were under constant surveillance. There was no risk to the people and the employees involved in the operation.
Before entering the courtroom, the lawyers of Georgi Kulov – Rosen Dimitrov, Boyan Zelenkov – Ivan Petrov, and Vasko Asenov – Georgi Ignatov, explained that the men did not know what these tiles were.
“He only kept one in his home, but he didn’t know anything about it. His children and grandchildren lived there,” said Petrov about his client. In front of his defender, Vasko explained that he had a job, did not need money and was just keeping the tile entrusted to him.
After it became clear that Georgi Kulov acquired his share of the americium plates several years ago, his lawyer clarified that he did not buy them, but received them. “Every expensive thing that we know we hold, be it gold, silver or something else, at some point we decide to sell it,” his lawyer Rosen Dimitrov veiledly answered when asked if profit was the goal. According to him, Georgi was not looking for specific customers, but rather a person to whom he could sell the substance. None of the defenders indicated from whom the three received americia. Prosecutor Slavena Kostova shed light on the identity of the previous owner of the radioactive material. She said that Vasko, Georgi and Boyan knew each other and
acquired the plates from a friend from Sopot
“On verification, it was found that this person has a conviction in 2009 for acquiring and possessing such americium 241 isotope plates without proper authorization,” she explained.
The man from Sopot in question died in 2018. One of the detainees explained that the man gave them to him to hide, and after his death decided to sell them. It has not been established how the tiles got to the deceased man.
The meeting to determine the measure of remand for the three was behind closed doors. Judge Stanislava Bozeva motivated her decision by the fact that the materials in the case contain state secrets. She left the men in custody.