"I recommend that every MP whose immunity is challenged should waive it," Continue the Change (CC) Co-chair Kiril Petkov told BTA here on Tuesday. Petkov joined a march in Sofia demanding a judicial reform. In his opinion, in such cases Parliament should set up a committee of inquiry. "We should be aware lest the prosecution use this as a political bludgeon," he warned.
The CC Co-chair recalled the case of Radostin Vasilev MP of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria, whose immunity was attacked by the prosecution service not because he had committed any crime whatsoever but because he was really awkward." "In our parliamentary group we said that we will not allow the prosecution service to deal arbitrarily with our MPs and use them for political purposes," he added. "Radostin Vasilev had nothing to worry about and he waived his immunity himself. This model should be applied to all," the CC-Chair argued.
In April 2023, Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev asked Parliament to lift Vasilev's immunity on account of an investigation for an alleged attempt on June 13, 2022 to coerce by threats Hristinka Ivanova, contrary to her persuasions and against her will, to leave the There Is Such a People Parliamentary Group in the 47th National Assembly and to resign as MP.
Petkov recalled that a mechanism to control and investigate the prosecutor general will be put to the vote in Parliament on Friday as the first step in the judicial reform.
/DS/
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