Emil Ivanov Dechev

Public record

Compiled from publications and official records as of 18.10.2026. Every statement links to its source; claims made by others are marked as such, with who makes them. Quotations in English are our translation.

Corruption and scandals

• Immediate protection order on a domestic-violence complaint. The court issued it against former caretaker interior minister Emil Dechev on a complaint of domestic violence against his former wife Maria Zlatareva and their 9-year-old daughter, Eurocom reports, citing plovdiv-online.com. He disputes the proceedings and calls them an abuse of rights and court tourism, according to Klub Z. Later reports say the Dupnitsa court sent the case to the Sofia District Court. The final outcome is not known; the order is not a ruling on the merits. — Eurocom, 30.07.2026
• ИТН claims that as minister he pressed officials over the Petrohan case. ИТН MPs, a political opponent of the caretaker cabinet, asked the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office to check whether Dechev had pressed MVR officials and investigators to resign over the case, BTA reports. According to Svobodna Evropa, ИТН, ГЕРБ and Vazrazhdane spread the claim in sync. He denied it, and the MVR issued an official denial. According to Trud, the prosecutor's office gave written instructions to ГДБОП on 23.02.2026 and did not order explanations from the minister. No charge or finding against him was found. — BTA, 27.02.2026
• Signature on the opinion on Ognyan Atanasov's health before his pardon. The ministry's opinion on the health of Ognyan Atanasov, known as the Escobar of Petrich, was signed by Dechev as deputy justice minister, bnews.bg (Nikolay Barekov) writes, citing Epicenter. He „е отговарял пряко за затворите и изпълнението на наказанията“ (was directly responsible for prisons and the execution of sentences; our translation). The opinion said prison could not provide adequate treatment. It is described as part of the routine procedure before Iliana Yotova's pardon in December 2022. The final decision was hers. Epicenter quotes Gadzhev, who is critical of Democratic Bulgaria, the party that nominated Dechev for the ВСС. According to a Mediapool video, Atanasov was in a fight in the prison hospital 19 days before the pardon. No wrongdoing by Dechev was established, and no investigation was found. — bnews.bg, 14.10.2026

Other

• Reinstated as a judge in the Sofia City Court, effective 08.05.2026. The Judges' College of the ВСС reinstated him under art. 195(4) of the Judicial System Act, BNR reports. According to Mediapool, he is nominated for the parliamentary quota in the ВСС, with hearings starting on 2 November 2026. — BNR, 12.05.2026
• Recusal from the case against Kiril Petkov and Bozhidar Bozhanov. As the assigned judge in the criminal case, Dechev recused himself in December 2025 „след настояване от страна на прокуратурата“ (at the prosecution's insistence; our translation), because he had been deputy justice minister in Petkov's government in 2022, Boulevard Bulgaria writes. — Boulevard Bulgaria, 18.02.2026