site.btaVarna Mayor to Run City from Prison amid Corruption Probe He Says Is Politically Motivated

The mayor of Varna, Bulgaria’s third-largest city, will be running the municipality from prison, where he has been held since July as part of a corruption investigation. His deputy Pavel Popov announced on Wednesday at a news conference that Blagomir Kotsev will officially resume his duties as mayor. 

Elected mayor on the ticket of the opposition Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria in November 2023 - one of very few opposition mayors, including also that of Sofia, Kotsev was arrested on July 8 following a tip-off for corruption by a failed public procurement tenderer. He was charged with participation in an organized criminal group accused of engaging in abuse of office, bribery and money laundering. The court has consistently rejected his applications for release from custody, and accepted the prosecutors' argument that he may interfere while the pre-trial proceedings were going on. The pre-trial proceedings are now over but the prosecutors still refuse to have him released from custody. Kotsev's defence counsel have filed a new release application but it is not clear when the court will consider it.

Immediately before his arrest, Kotsev signed an order naming his deputy Pavel Popov to sit in for him. The order expired on November 1.

Popov said Wednesday that the temporary arrangement under which he had been acting as mayor for the past four months would now end. "Although Mayor Kotsev is in detention, he will perform his duties, and the practice of appointing a deputy to act in his place will be discontinued," he said, adding that the team had developed a logistical system to deliver documents to Kotsev in Sofia for signature.

Popov reiterated that Kotsev denies any wrongdoing and described his continued detention as "inexplicable". He expressed hope that prosecutors would soon agree to his release.

Local election officials in Varna are currently reviewing several petitions seeking Kotsev’s removal, but Popov argued there are no legal grounds for dismissing him, as the law allows for removal only after a final conviction.

Popov confirmed that Kotsev has no plans to resign and intends to hold a press conference after his release to discuss both the case and the city’s development mid-way through his term. "We are aware that this new way of working will come with logistical difficulties, but we have a plan to address those," Popov said.

Kotsev's Continue the Change party insist that his arrest is part of a government campaign targeting the opposition. Large-scale protests in his support have been staged in Varna, Sofia and other major cities. The Renew Europe group in the European Parliament where Continue the Change is affiliated,  sees Kotsev's extended detention as "an onslaught on democratic institutions and rule of law in Bulgaria".