In the administrative court in Plovdiv the case of former prime minster Simeon Saxe-Coburg and his sister Mariya Luiza against Plovdiv regional manager Todor Petkov in the refusal to restore the property rights to residence Krichim is under way.

This is the first court case in which the legitimacy of the former king's restitution has been challenged, mediapool.bg reported. The arguments against restoration of the property rights brought by Petkov were valid for all restitutions of real estate of Saxe-Coburg, mediapool.bg said.

Arguments against restoration of the property rights were the lack of a law on this restitution, the restitution being solely based on a constitutional decision from 1998 and the lack of clarity regarding ownership of the real estate. On paper the real estate was in the name of the former quartermaster, mediapool.bg said.

According to the regional manager the real estate cannot be identified. Legal adviser Todorova provided a letter to the court from the mayor's office in Kurtovo Konare village. The letter states that the real estate described in the request for restitution does not exist in the archives from between 1911 and 1948.

Saxe-Coburg's lawyer Eli Christova presented part of a list regarding Krichim, describing belongings that had been nationalised as well as five pictures from 1952 of a concrete wall on the territory of Kurtovo Konare, mediapool.bg said.

The court has appointed an expert to establish a description of the real estate.

The next hearing of the court has been set for November 15.