site.bta166 Case Files Related to Election Violations by Persons With Immunity Have Been Opened by Sofia City Prosecution Office

By April 22, a total of 166 election-related case files have been opened by the Sofia City Prosecution Office, the prosecution said, reacting to allegations regarding its work on cases involving individuals with immunity.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, caretaker Prime Minister Andrey Gurov said that 72 parliamentary candidates with immunity have been implicated in vote-buying, yet none have had their immunity lifted.

Of these case files, seven have led to pre-trial proceedings, nine have been forwarded to other prosecution offices over jurisdiction, and 96 have been assigned for review. In other cases, supervising prosecutors have personally requested relevant materials. Nearly all case files for which no review was assigned, were submitted with materials from already completed checks. As of April 22, a total of 68 case files have been closed with refusal to initiate pre-trial proceedings. 

Some of the case files have been merged with others due to identical data.

A large portion of closed case files were submitted by the Ministry of Interio, with an opinion that there was no evidence of a crime against citizens’ political rights or any other offence.

Many of the closed case files were based on anonymous reports, the information in which was checked but not confirmed.

A large portion of the reports contain highly vague, unclear, and non-specific information, general claims, impressions, and suspicions that were not substantiated during the conducted checks.

Investigations are being conducted in the initiated pre-trial proceedings. If sufficient evidence is collected, the prosecution will take steps to lift a person’s immunity.

The Sofia City Prosecution Office stressed that it is unacceptable to make suggestions without specific data and without reference to facts.

From the beginning of the election campaign until the morning of April 20, a total of 3,021 case files have been opened by the prosecution, and 599 pre-trial proceedings have been initiated, including 252 fast-track proceedings for crimes against citizens’ political rights, the prosecution said on April 20.

On the evening of April 19, caretaker Interior Minister Emil Dechev announced that the Ministry of Interior had received a total of 2,974 reports of election violations since the start of the campaign - an increase of 204%, or three times more, compared to the previous parliamentary elections.