site.btaUPDATED Interior Ministry's Acting Secretary General Says He Has Been Pressured

In a video message on Facebook, Interior Ministry's acting Secretary General Georgi Kandev said that he had been pressured. "Yesterday [Thursday], I received my own message: 'Go home!' Those who have long relied on silence and obedience are trying the same approach again - with the same words and the same arrogance. Pressure that relies on fear and habit. Not this time!" he said.  

Kandev went on to say that he had not accepted the position of Secretary General to back down. "I am not here to bow to threats and backroom deals. I am here to work the way you have seen over the past two months," he stated.

In his words, he received several calls on Thursday. Within ten minutes, from hidden numbers via a mobile app, he was informed that at that very moment, a person nicknamed "Kartofa" [The Potato] and his associates were giving false testimony against Kandev at the Sofia City Prosecution Office. Kandev was told that they were organized by a former official at the Interior Ministry with the first name "Svetlyo."

Kandev speculates that the goal may be to pin something wrong on him and to try to force him to back down.

The Secretary General posed several questions to the Sofia City Prosecution Service, including whether "convicted and criminally charged individuals" truly testified against him on Thursday and who were the puppet masters behind this scenario, and why were they acting now.

"I will not follow their model. Silence is not an option. I will not back down!" Kandev said at the end of the video.

On April 21, President Iliana Iotova spoke highly of Kandev. She noted that whether Kandev will remain Interior Ministry Secretary General depends on the future regular government, but she would “give him a chance to finish what he started.”