site.btaCC-DB Demands Accountability for Illegal Arrests, Probes into Varna Mayor’s Detention

In a declaration on behalf of the parliamentary group of Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), CC-DB Co-Floor Leader Nikolay Denkov said on Friday that the group insists on “immediate personal disciplinary and criminal liability for the officials who ordered and carried out the illegal arrest of Blagomir Kotsev, as well as an objective investigation into all nearly 640 illegal arrests”.

From the parliamentary rostrum, Denkov also demanded an explanation from the prosecuting magistracy as to why no investigation has yet been launched into Kotsev’s unlawful detention, or into any of the other arrests, except for the case involving the arrest of Boyko Borissov, Chair of GERB.

Denkov recalled that days earlier the Sofia District Court had ruled the 24-hour detention of Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev unlawful, an arrest followed by five months of detention based on what he described as “dubious testimony from dependent and compromised individuals”. “The purpose of the illegal detention of Mayor Kotsev was clear – to remove him as the democratically elected mayor of Varna,” Denkov said, adding that only a strong reaction from civil society had prevented this from happening. “In this case, as in many others, institutions were used as instruments to serve the political and economic interests of a group of mafiosi and oligarchs, rather than to ensure order and justice for Bulgarian citizens,” he said. “And instead of those responsible for this criminal abuse of power, violating not only the law but also the human rights of the mayor of Varna and his family, being investigated, we are witnessing a shameless, politically motivated double standard unfolding before the entire country,” Denkov continued.

According to Interior Ministry data cited by Denkov, over the past four years nearly 640 police detentions for 24 hours have been declared unlawful by the courts. “The arrest of Blagomir Kotsev is just one of these 640 cases,” he added.

“All of these cases, except one, the 2022 arrest of GERB leader Boyko Borissov, have been met with silence,” the CC-DB declaration further says. “Over the past years there have been more than 70 reports of corruption and abuse of power concerning Borissov that remain shelved. And against the backdrop of these 70 reports, the only immediate consequence was the swift filing of charges against Kiril Petkov, who was prime minister in 2022. A former prime minister is under investigation, yet not a single official or police officer who may have broken the law in this case is being investigated,” Denkov emphasized.