Lake Varna sewage pipe case: court sets Portnih trial for 26 November

On 26 October 2026 Varna District Court set the trial of former Varna mayor Ivan Portnih over sewage pollution of Lake Varna to start on 26 November 2026. At that preliminary hearing it refused a defence request to send the case back to prosecutors, BNR Radio Varna reported. According to the indictment, the damage to the municipality is more than 7,520,143 leva.

What is Ivan Portnih accused of?

Portnih is accused of neglect of city property while in office. According to Varna24, the case concerns the Asparuhovo treatment plant, which was converted into a pumping station with a pipeline running under the bottom of Lake Varna. The design required the pipe to be laid 3 metres deep. Prosecutors say a letter from the Maritime Administration told him the pipe was not deep enough. Even so, they say, he did not sue the builder within the 10-year warranty. The charge is treated as a particularly serious case because the lake was polluted with organic waste.

A second charge covers 20 August 2019 to 18 September 2020. In that period, prosecutors say, he did not tell the public about the state of the lake, as the law requires. They also say he let the pollution happen through negligence.

Why did the case take so long to reach a trial?

The court twice returned the indictment to prosecutors over procedural violations, Varna24 reports. Prosecutors filed it for the third time in early August 2026. A first preliminary hearing was postponed because Portnih and his lawyer had not been properly summoned.

What happened in court on 26 October?

According to BNR, defence lawyer Menko Menkov listed 16 differences between the charge and the indictment. They include how leva amounts were turned into euros and how the charge is worded. The panel chaired by Judge Stoyan Popov rejected his request. Seventeen witnesses have already been heard and five expert reports written. Menkov was given one week to say if they must all be called again. The defence welcomed the trial as a chance to prove Portnih’s innocence. Portnih has previously said he had nothing to do with the pipeline.

What it means for Varna

Lake Varna borders Asparuhovo and several other districts, and sewage leaking into it harms water quality for everyone who lives, walks or fishes along its shores. The case also concerns public money: if the court finds that the municipality lost more than 7.5 million leva, that is money not spent on services. Whatever the verdict, the trial tests how former officials are held to account for city infrastructure. For other news from the district, see our report on the Asparuhovo landslide, and for how the city spends its money, the Varna culture budget dispute.