Chapter 15
Kidnapping as a State Practice
In a country where statehood has long abandoned the people and the law is used as a cover, something quiet and terrifying happened – a man was kidnapped. Not by masked criminals, but by the state itself. A state that no longer belongs to the people, but is captured.
Captured by a cartel.
Intertwined in a web of dependencies, money, power, and fear.
The cartel is not the one from television – with drugs and mobsters in dark cars. This cartel wears suits, holds the judicial power, controls the media, and pushes the buttons of justice. And when it needs an enemy – it creates one.
The Silent Victim
Emil is a good man. He does not belong to any system. He is not rich, he is not influential, he is not part of the game. And exactly such people are the most convenient – because there is no one to protect them. Emil loves life and loves children – that is why he cannot explain to himself why the system chose him.
He did not threaten anyone with an automatic rifle. The victim, the one he supposedly threatened, says clearly and unequivocally: "It was not a Kalashnikov automatic rifle. It was a pistol – a Makarov."
And yet, the state convicts him – for an automatic rifle.
This is not a mistake. This is deliberate.
This is a kidnapping for the purpose of intimidation.
The Mechanism of Fear
The cartel uses the state like a predator uses the skin of the animal it has hidden inside.
It creates an accusation. It alters the facts. It blows it up through the media so that people tremble. The headlines scream:
"Heavily Armed Bandit Arrested!"
"Automatic Fire Against Victims!"
But in reality – even the witness says it was not like that.
But the truth does not sell news. And it does not serve the purpose of those who want society to fear. Because a frightened society is easy to manage.
Therefore, Emil is not just detained. He is presented as a monster so that the fear is more effective.
Fear is a weapon. And the man – just a bullet in the state propaganda gun.
The Legal Mask of Violence
Can the state deprive a person of liberty without a proven crime, without a real threat, without a match between the accusation and the witness statements?
It can – if it is captured.
It can – if the cartel dictates who is guilty and who is the scapegoat.
What happened to Emil is not just an arrest. It is a state kidnapping for the purpose of intimidation and a demonstration of power.
Violated are:
Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights – right to liberty and security;
Article 6 – right to a fair trial, including knowing exactly what you are accused of;
Article 7 – no punishment without law / prohibition of conviction on inadmissible grounds;
Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – prohibition of arbitrary arrest and detention;
Decisions of the UN Human Rights Committee – which condemn such practices as arbitrary deprivation of liberty.
The Silence of the Brave
Emil does not scream. He waits.
He knows he is not a criminal. He knows the truth is on his side.
But he also knows something else – that when the state is in the hands of a cartel, the truth has no microphone. It whispers in the corner while the lie screams from the screen.
What happened to Emil is not an accident.
It is a mechanism.
A weapon of fear. Part of a system where anyone can be next.
102m
"If you don't want to be like Emil..."
Sofia, late November afternoon. The air was gray, sticky. On the windows of the small shops, condensation ran down like tears. Five men enter a cafe near Orlov Most. They do not look different from ordinary clerks, with briefcases and gloves, but when they enter, the door creaks particularly heavily, as if the air itself understands that something dirty is happening.
– "We have a meeting with Mr. Belov – the owner" – says Prosecutor Petrov, without smiling.
The restaurant owner steps forward hesitantly. He has felt that the wind has turned. He had heard what happened to Emil Milev. He was his neighbor some time ago – a calm, gentle man, he loved to feed the homeless cats in front of the block. Then suddenly he disappeared.
And the media tore him apart. "Armed to the teeth", "Dangerous bandit", "Arrested during a special operation".
And he had not even left Sofia.
– "Let's sit down." – says Hristov, a gray man with eyes like a closed door. – "Let's talk civilly. You don't want to become like Emil, do you?"
– "I... what do I have to do with him?" – Belov asks timidly.
– "Nothing. For now." – Martin Bozhanov, the notary, joins in. He pulls out a few sheets of paper. – "This is a preliminary contract. For transferring the ownership of the restaurant."
– "Excuse me? I am not selling." – Belov tries to smile.
– "You don't need to sell. You just sign. Everything will be fine. You will keep your good name, you will continue your life peacefully."
Ivanov's voice is velvety, like from a television commercial. Except that behind his words lurks something sinister.
– "If you don't sign… Genov is available." – Stoyanov adds and looks at his watch. – "At five in the morning he will give testimony. Against you. Against your wife. Against whomever we say."
– "Testimony about what?" – Belov's voice is already trembling.
– "We will think of something. It's not hard." – Hristov shrugs. – "Just like with Emil. Even the victim said he was threatened with a pistol, and we convicted him for an automatic rifle. Imagine what will happen to you if we say that you evaded VAT and have connections with illegal oil."
Silence fell. Across the street, the traffic light blinked red. Belov swallowed.
– "The restaurant is not worth that much..."
– "We are not interested in money. We are interested in what you possess. If you don't hand it over now voluntarily – we will come with a prosecutor's warrant and take it by force."
The Mechanism of Repression
What was happening was not an isolated case.
The same scene was played out in a car dealership on the Ring Road.
Then – in a small vegetable wholesale market near Kremikovtsi.
Then – in an office of an oil company, in the "Mladost" district.
Every time – the same men. The same tone. The same words:
"You don't want to become like Emil, do you?"
"Genov will give testimony."
"The state is with us. The judges are ours."
"The media will crush you."
And so, one by one, people began to sign.
Out of fear. Out of desperation.
There was no court. There was no law. There was only a pretense of justice, behind which the cartel hid.
A City Without Protection
In this city, a person was not guilty because they committed a crime.
They were guilty because they possessed something that someone bigger and more unscrupulous wanted.
And if they refused to give it voluntarily – they were erased.
First through testimony. Then through a prosecutor. Then through the media. Finally – through a court.
And when society shrugged its shoulders and said "He probably wasn't innocent" – the cartel won.
103m
"The Thirty-First Time"
Outside it was raining thinly. The yard of the Appellate Specialized Court was drowning in mud and silence. But in a courtroom on the third floor, behind thick curtains and an oak table, a completely different process was being conducted – not under the Penal Procedure Code, but by the rules of the shadow.
Judge Stoev closed the case file with a bored click.
– "Milev again?" – he asked and left his glasses on the folder.
– "Again. This time even without new evidence. We just need to detain him for another week." – said Judge Vasileva. – "The media are waiting downstairs. We will say he is publicly dangerous."
– "The first instance released him. Without an automatic rifle, without a match in description, without evidence. The victim says that the attacker was short, fat, with a Makarov. Milev is two meters tall, thin, without a weapon…"
– "It is not our job to judge, Stoev." – Judge Hristov smiled and poured whisky. – "We just… extend."
The door opened with a slight creak. Martin Bozhanov – the notary – entered. He was dressed elegantly, as always. After him stepped a shorter, bald man with an icy gaze – the boss of the cartel, known only as "Mr. Ivan".
– "I see you haven't signed the decree yet." – Martin said calmly and left an envelope on the table. – "The thirty-first time. Let's not change the ritual."
Judge Vasileva took the envelope and put it in the drawer.
– "Are you in a big hurry this time?" – she asked with a false smile.
– "We have no time." – Mr. Ivan intervened. His voice was expressionless, but cold as a blade. – "Emil must be in prison for at least another six months. Tomorrow we are talking to two owners – a wholesale market in Iliyantsi and a car dealership in Bozhurishte. If they hear that Milev is free, they won't transfer."
– "So fear is the tool again." – Stoev sighed and signed the decree.
– "Yes. And the media too. Tomorrow we launch a new wave: 'Court: Milev remains dangerous to society', 'Judges: He will kill again'... Give people headlines, not truths."
Martin raised the glass of whisky that Vasileva handed him.
– "Cheers to justice."
– "Cheers to the silence." – Mr. Ivan replied.
Years in the Shadow
From December 18, 2013, to January 9, 2018, Emil Milev spent 4 years, 1 month, and 22 days in a cell.
Every time the court of first instance decreed his release, a new detention order was already waiting for him at the prison door, signed hours before in a room where they did not look at evidence, but at sums.
Thirty-one times they let him go – and thirty-one times they returned him back, as if he were not a person, but an object held for rent by the mafia that had captured the state from within.
The Truth That Must Not Be Told
– "But Bozhilov says he was not threatened with an automatic rifle, but with a pistol..." – a young intern in the prosecution office once whispered.
– "That doesn't matter." – his mentor replied. – "What matters is what is written in the media. Not what happened."
104m
Everyone knew the truth. Milev never threatened Bozhilov with an automatic rifle. Emil did not tell him to lie on the ground, nor was the bag of money taken from him in this manner. This crime happened in a different way — Bozhilov clearly stated that he was threatened with a Makarov pistol, and not by Milev, but by another person. And Emil Milev was framed and unlawfully detained for a crime that did not factually happen.
But despite everything — despite the lack of evidence and contrary to the facts — Milev was detained. Detained, not to seek justice, but to instill fear. To scare people.
To show that no one is safe.
105m
December, 2017.
The snow was slowly falling over Sofia, covering the roofs and streets with a cold silence. In the building of the Appellate Specialized Court, however, there was no trace of silence – decisions were being made there that have no place in justice.
Judges Galya Georgieva and Magdalena Lazarova – known for their closeness to the then Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov – made their next "urgent" decision. The order was clear, and the name – well known: Emil Milev.
He had to be detained again. It did not matter that he did not commit the crime he was accused of. It did not matter that the victim himself had clearly stated – the threat was not with an automatic rifle, but with a pistol. That the described perpetrator was another man – short, heavy, with a different face and behavior. That Emil had nothing to do with it.
"You will detain him – is that clear? – the boss of the cartel insisted in the corridors of power. – The people must see what happens to those who do not listen to us."
"No problem," Georgieva replied quietly, while signing the document. Lazarova nodded silently. Both knew why they were there.
This was not a court. This was a theater of fear. And Milev – a hostage of a script written not with evidence, but with bribes, threats, and lies.
That same evening, Emil Milev was put behind bars again.
And everyone knew.
They knew he did not threaten Bozhilov with an automatic rifle.
They knew he did not tell him to lie on the ground.
They knew he did not take the bag of money.
They knew that another man did it – with a pistol, with force, with blows.
But that was not important to them.
The important thing was for people to fear. To watch the news and think to themselves: "If this is happening to him, what is left for us?"
In Bulgaria in December 2017, it was not justice that judged, but those who thought they could buy and sell the destiny of man.
106m
