The Appellate Court-Sofia overturned the decree of the Military Prosecutor's Office to terminate the investigation into the case over the forced change of names of Bulgarian Muslims during the communist regime, known as the “Revival Process”.

The Prosecutor's Office terminated the case in 2022 after the expiration of the limitation period and the death of the last accused person, Georgi Atanasov, who served as Prime Minister from 1986 to 1990.

According to the judges from the Appellate Court-Sofia, the termination of the case violated the procedural rights of the people who became victims of the “Revival Process” and that the Prosecutor's Office has not yet ruled on whether a crime was committed and what the crime was.

The case was opened in 1991 against former senior figures Todor Zhivkov, Georgi Atanasov and Interior Minister Dimitar Stoyanov