GERB Leader Considers Arrested Varna Mayor Innocent Until Court Ruling on Corruption Case

Dimitrina Solakova, BTA correspondent Presiana Valkanova

GERB leader Boyko Borissov speaking at a forum of GERB's youth organization in Plovdiv, South Central Bulgaria, July 20, 2025 (BTA Photo/Ani Mihaylova)

Plovdiv, South Central Bulgaria,

20.07.2025 14:07

(BTA)

GERB leader Boyko Borissov said here on Sunday that for him and his party, Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev is innocent until the court rules the case. Borissov was speaking at a forum of GERB's youth organization in Plovdiv.

Kotsev was arrested late in the night on July 8 after a corruption tipoff by a failed public procurement tenderer to the Counter-Corruption Commission. Along with municipal councilors Yordan Kateliev and Nikolai Stefanov, and businessman Ivaylo Marinov, the Mayor of Varna has been charged with participation in an organized criminal group operating in Varna Region and engaging in coordinated criminal activities, including abuse of office, bribery, and money laundering. The arrests caused a wave of protests across the country over suspected political repression with the use of the prosecution service against the opposition Continue the Change party, with whom the three defendants are affiliated.

According to GERB leader Borissov, the media space no longer touches on the issue of corruption in Sofia. "I want you to know that we as a party have nothing to do with this. We neither support nor comment on court decisions. In the case of Varna, we have two court decisions," he said. He was referring to the decisions of the court of first instance on Kotsev's case and of the Sofia Appellate Court, both of which ruled that Kotsev, Kateliev, and Stefanov are to remain in custody.

In his words, GERB is the only centre-right party at the moment; all other parties have entered the sphere of the left wing, of populism.

Sunday's forum of GERB's youth organization was attended by Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov, Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Chairman of GERB Tomislav Donchev, Denitsa Sacheva, Chair of the parliamentary Labour and Social Policy Committee, and Plovdiv Deputy Mayor Vladimir Temelkov.

/DS/