Extradition Lawyer in Sofia: Sofia City Court and the Local Procedure

Important current-law check: the official State Gazette contents for issue 46 dated 21 October 2026 list a further amendment to the Extradition and European Arrest Warrant Act. The enacted wording, commencement date and transitional provisions are not confirmed in the accessible official materials. The court/authority route and statutory periods below are based on the consolidated Act available through 27 September 2026; neither should be treated as confirmed current law for a live case until the amendment is checked.

Which Sofia court handles the case?

The Act assigns conventional extradition and incoming EAW proceedings to the okrazhen sad (district-level court) for the area where the requested person is found. The Sofia City Court’s official description places it among Bulgaria’s district-level courts, and its site lists a separate Criminal Division. For a person found in Sofia city, that points to Sofia City Court—not the separate Sofia Regional Court serving the surrounding province. The City Court is listed at 2 Vitosha Boulevard, and its official directory identifies the criminal-case registry there. Check the court named in the detention order or hearing notice; a later transfer to Sofia does not by itself prove territorial competence.

Do not assume that 2 Vitosha Boulevard is the hearing venue for every criminal case. The Sofia City Court’s current notice says first-instance Criminal Division panels 6, 15, 16, 26, 33, 36, 37, 38, 39 and 40 sit at 90 Cherkovna Street. The criminal registry lists services at both locations and panel-specific telephone lines; for example, 02 9219 288 is listed for panels 3, 4, 11, 15, 21 and 24 and appellate panels I, II and V, while other panels have separate numbers. Ask the registry to confirm the assigned panel, hearing address and correct contact before travelling or sending originals.

Which prosecutor’s office is involved?

The statute assigns tasks to the prosecutor competent for the area where the person is found. In Sofia city, check the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office (Sofiyska gradska prokuratura, SGP), whose official contact page lists 2 Vitosha Boulevard. The Sofia Regional Prosecutor’s Office is a separate office for the wider region. Ask the police or investigating officer for the prosecutor’s name and file reference before sending documents. In a conventional extradition case, the prosecutor must arrange a defence lawyer and interpreter where required, allow the person and lawyer to inspect the file, explain the option of consent to immediate extradition, and submit the case and any custody request to the competent court.

The SGP’s official contact page lists office hours Monday to Friday, 08:30–17:00, at 2 Vitosha Boulevard. These are office-contact hours only; they do not establish detention visiting hours or when a court hearing will take place.

Is this an EAW case or conventional extradition?

An EAW is the EU judicial surrender instrument and applies between EU Member States. A request from a non-EU country normally proceeds under Bulgaria’s Extradition and European Arrest Warrant Act and the treaty binding Bulgaria and the requesting state, or on reciprocity where permitted. An INTERPOL Red Notice may prompt domestic action but is not itself an international arrest warrant or a formal extradition request. A Schengen Information System (SIS) alert can be treated as an EAW under Bulgarian law only if it is accompanied by the information required by the Act. Ask which legal basis appears on the detention order and request the underlying alert, warrant or request paperwork.

For conventional extradition, Articles 9–12 regulate the request and supporting documents, including identity, the alleged offence, a warrant or judgment, and applicable law. Documents are ordinarily accompanied by a Bulgarian translation unless a treaty provides otherwise. Bulgaria’s declaration under Article 23 of the 1957 European Convention on Extradition requires translation into Bulgarian or, failing that, an official language of the Council of Europe. The Treaty Office also records Bulgaria’s declaration that it refuses extradition of its nationals for purposes of that Convention; the person’s nationality and the treaty relationship must be checked in the individual case.

What happens in the first 72 hours?

This is a practical action plan, not one universal 72-hour statutory deadline. The clock depends on the instrument and custody order.

When must the first hearing and appeal take place?

The following periods appear in the accessible consolidated Act. Each has its own trigger. The later State Gazette amendment noted above must be checked before using these periods in a live case.

Do not calculate a deadline from the day a relative received a phone call. Obtain the decision and verify the formal announcement or receipt date that starts the relevant period. The three-day custody challenge, seven-day extradition appeal and five-day EAW appeal are different procedures.

For appeal-file enquiries, the Sofia Court of Appeal’s current official page says incoming case papers and correspondence (except electronic filing) are accepted only at its registry, room 73, ground floor of the Sofia Courthouse. It lists criminal-case enquiry lines 02 9219 753 and 02 9219 830. Check the live notice before visiting or sending originals; these are registry contacts, not detention-visiting arrangements.

Where is the person held, and how can family get access?

Do not assume everyone arrested in Sofia is held at the same facility, or that a police detention room and Sofia Central Prison are interchangeable. Do not assume there is one facility for all Sofia extradition/EAW detainees; the current location must be confirmed with the custody authority or from the case record. Ask the police unit or prosecutor to confirm the person’s current location, case officer, document-delivery rules and visiting arrangements; counsel should verify the facility before anyone travels. Sofia City Court publishes its criminal-case registry contacts, and Sofia Court of Appeal separately publishes criminal registry and case-enquiry information. These are file-location starting points, not emergency hotlines. Keep the person’s full name, date of birth, nationality, arrest date, reference number and spelling variants together. For an arrest reported at Sofia Airport, confirm the legal basis and present custody location from the papers; the airport is not the court, and its location alone does not answer every jurisdiction question.

Hypothetical example: If a Georgian national is stopped at Sofia Airport on a Red Notice but the papers do not identify an EAW or a formal extradition request, the family should not assume that a surrender hearing has already begun. Ask the custody authority for the written legal basis and file reference, then have counsel verify the record with Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office and the Sofia City Court Criminal Division registry. Any deadline must be calculated from the actual order and the law then in force.

What can the defence ask the Sofia court to consider?

Counsel should first check identity, the legal basis and translation of the request, and the lawfulness of detention. In conventional extradition, the court examines statutory conditions and refusal grounds and may request further information from the requesting state. In an EAW case, the court applies the specific EAW rules; it does not retry the foreign charge. CJEU decisions also set limits: Aranyosi and Căldăraru requires an individual evidence-based assessment of a real risk of inhuman or degrading detention conditions; LM addresses a real risk to the right to an independent tribunal. Neither creates automatic refusal based only on general criticism of another state. In Puig Gordi and Others, the Court confirmed that an executing authority cannot invent a refusal ground based only on domestic law outside the EAW Framework Decision, subject to the EU-law fundamental-rights analysis. The evidence must match the applicable legal test. The later CJEU judgment in P.P.R. (Case C-318/24 PPU, 29 July 2024, as rectified) further confirms that a court assessing detention conditions under an EAW must first request necessary supplementary information from the issuing authority under Article 15(2) of the Framework Decision and cannot apply a higher standard than Article 4 of the Charter. A refusal by another executing state does not automatically decide the new case: the reasons must be considered, and the court must make its own assessment.

What should the family or a foreign lawyer send now?

• Passport or identity document, including alternate spellings.
• Detention order, rights declaration, EAW or extradition papers, and pages showing the date, issuing authority and case number.
• Citizenship/residence records, a short chronology of the arrest and hearing dates, and urgent medical information.
• Specific evidence supporting any proposed objection, such as the relevant foreign judgment or documents about notice and participation.
• One family contact authorised to receive updates; avoid posting sensitive documents publicly.

Send papers securely to counsel, keep originals and record when each document was delivered. Do not delay urgent medical care while gathering paperwork.

How does this Sofia page fit with the country-wide procedure?

This page covers the local Sofia court, prosecutor and appeal route; it does not reproduce every national refusal ground or post-decision remedy. Use the Bulgaria country guide for the national procedure and the separate refusal-and-appeal guide for remedies. A custody challenge, an appeal from the surrender decision and a constitutional or human-rights application are distinct routes. An application to the European Court of Human Rights does not replace a timely domestic appeal; see the ECtHR application guide.

Tell counsel at first contact if the person is a Bulgarian or dual national, if several states seek the person, if a Bulgarian criminal case or sentence is pending, or if the request comes from outside the EU. These facts may change the treaty or statutory route and whether transfer can be delayed. Do not consent to immediate extradition merely to shorten detention: under the consolidated text available through 27 September 2026, consent can produce a final decision within 24 hours if statutory conditions are met.

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