The regional governor of Shumen, Vladimir Yolov, may find himself without access to classified information due to a conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol in 2016. This conflicts with the Law on Protection of Classified Information.
On February 25, 2016, Vladimir Yolov was sentenced to three months in prison, suspended for three years, according to public court records. The court also imposed a fine and revoked his driver’s license for six months. The case was processed through expedited procedures, after Yolov admitted his guilt and entered into a plea agreement with the prosecution.
Yolov was caught on December 19, 2015, driving a vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of 1.42 per mille. Following the incident, he was charged by the prosecution for driving under the influence of alcohol over 1.2 per mille. Later, Yolov requested a plea agreement with the prosecution in the expedited proceeding, which was approved by the District Court in February 2016. In its reasoning, the court stated that “the offense was committed intentionally, with direct intent, and therefore, under Article 343b of the Penal Code, a three-month prison sentence, suspended for three years, is imposed.”
Despite the statute of limitations on the sentence, the regional governor will face issues concerning the Law on Protection of Classified Information, legal experts comment. According to Article 40, paragraph 4 of the Law, access to classified information is granted to individuals who “have not been convicted of an intentional crime of general nature, regardless of rehabilitation.”
Any person is considered convicted if there is a judgment entered into force, and in determining whether an individual has been convicted of an intentional crime, only the established form of guilt as per the judgment is relevant—this is stated in the mandatory guidelines from the State Commission on Information Security regarding Article 40, paragraph 1, item 4. The Commission also explains what is to be considered a crime of general nature: “depending on the procedure for exercising criminal responsibility, crimes are classified as of general and private nature. For private crimes, prosecution is initiated upon the complaint of the injured party. Only criminal acts explicitly defined as such in specific provisions of the Special Part of the Penal Code are considered private. All other types of crimes are of general nature.”
If Vladimir Yolov does not receive access to classified information, the legitimate question arises as to whether he can fulfill his duties as a regional governor.
It is unclear whether the requirement for access to classified information is included in his job description, but former regional governors are adamant that working with confidential information is mandatory for this position.
We posed these questions to the Government Information Service, along with the inquiry of whether the regional governor of Shumen Province has the right to access classified information. After four days, we received a succinct response from the press office of the Council of Ministers:
“We do not have the information you requested.”
We also reached out to the regional governor of Shumen, Vladimir Yolov, who initially stated that he did not know what the matter was about. Up to this point, there has been no further statement from him regarding the situation.
In November, the former acting regional governor of Shumen, Valentin Alexandrov, was dismissed from his position after he crashed his personal vehicle and refused to undergo a breathalyzer test for alcohol consumption. Following the incident, he voluntarily submitted his resignation from office.
