NAIROBI, August 6 – A Bulgarian man wants the High Court to overturn a three-year jail sentence imposed on him last month for being in illegal possession of 13 skimmed credit cards.
Nicolov Adrian Hriston, who claimed that he never understood court proceedings during the trial now wants to be released on bail, pending hearing of his application.
Hriston had pleaded guilty to the offence which he committed in Nairobi’s Hurlingham estate.
Over two weeks after his condemnation, the Bulgarian’s lawyer Ronald Lumwaji told Justice Muga Apondi that Hriston understood neither English nor Kiswahili and therefore couldn’t have comprehended court proceedings.
Lumwaji argued that the magistrate erred in law by convicting the Bulgarian since he did not satisfy himself (the magistrate) that the accused person understood what was being levelled against him.
“The said proceedings were conducted in English without an interpreter,” protested Lumwaji.
Hriston who is currently incarcerated at Industrial Area Prisons was in the country, by the words of his lawyer, on a survey mission to establish possibilities of starting up a clothing factory.
Justice Apondi will rule on matter on August 15.
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