site.btaUPDATED Ruling Majority Blocks Quorum for Hearing on Drug Trafficker’s Pardon Before Elections, Opposition Accuses It of Covering Up for President

A quorum was not reached in the plenary chamber for Wednesday’s extraordinary parliamentary sitting, which was scheduled to address the controversy surrounding the pardon of Ognyan Atanasov, known as the “Petrich Escobar”, who has been linked to drug trafficking and was pardoned by Iliana Iotova during her tenure as vice president. The electronic voting board on the second of two attempts showed 109 MPs present: 21 from Progressive Bulgaria (PB), 34 from GERB-UDF, 19 from Democratic Bulgaria, 18 from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, 15 from Continue the Change, and two from Vazrazhdane.

The sitting was convened at the request of Assen Vassilev from the Continue the Change parliamentary group and a group of MPs.

Progressive Bulgaria Floor Leader Petar Vitanov said that the issue will be addressed after the elections "because there is a problem somewhere in the process and it lies not within the presidential institution but further down the chain." He commented that part of the opposition "is determined to turn the parliamentary rostrum into a platform for election campaigning and a smear campaign." Vitanov said he had requested the relevant information and had it in his possession, but did not believe it would be appropriate for him to disclose it.

Democratic Bulgaria Deputy Floor Leader Bozhidar Bozhanov accused the ruling majority of "once again disgracefully covering up President Iliana Iotova's affair involving the pardoning of drug traffickers". “These are career criminals and repeat offenders whom Iotova, in her role as a dangerous repeat offender, pardons repeatedly,” he added. "Iotova, Radev and the majority owe us answers. They have no right to hide and attempt to conceal the truth from Bulgarian citizens,” Bozhanov said.

Movement for Rights and Freedoms Floor Leader Delyan Peevski said that the majority "hid" President Iotova. "Let her come and explain. She was vice president; perhaps the [former] president made her sign something," he said. According to him, "those in power are in a state of complete hysteria." "Nothing but violence, nothing but the use of the Interior Ministry, the intelligence services, pressure on mayors and political parties," Peevski said. "I have been watching the results of opinion polls today, and I can see what they are worried about," he added.

Continue the Change MP Assen Vassilev said that "for the second consecutive week, Progressive Bulgaria MPs have failed to turn up, preventing a quorum and making it impossible to establish what Iliana Iotova knew when she pardoned the drug traffickers." The parliamentary group's Floor Leader said that there is an umbrella over drug trafficking and drug dealers in Bulgaria within the country's security services and judicial system.

Later in the day, CC gathered enough signatures by MPs to request another extraordinary parliamentary sitting on the issue which will be held on October 28. It will also discuss the case of another convict pardoned by Iotova - a drug dealer from Sliven, Dinko Gospodinov: "We have a pardon involving a drug dealer who was caught, convicted, released by the court to undergo medical treatment, and then caught a second time while receiving treatment."

The head of State's press service said late Wednesday that on October 19, President Iliana Iotova referred the matter of Atanasov's pardon to the prosecution service and sent them the entire case file. A review conducted by the presidential institution established that the documents required for the case file were available and that the Pardon Commission had followed its operating procedures.

Ognyan Atanasov, sentenced in Greece to 15 years in prison for drug-related offences, had served five years when Iliana Iotova, then vice president, pardoned him on December 5, 2022, leaving 10 years of his sentence unserved. According to the President's Administration, the pardon followed a review by a seven-member commission and was based on a medical assessment of his deteriorating health. His sentence had already been suspended for two years on health grounds. Following his pardon, Atanasov was charged again in connection with drug trafficking. According to the prosecution, the group involved in the new case had been operating since early 2023. In February 2025, he was detained as part of an investigation in which nearly five kilograms of cocaine were seized.

The case has attracted renewed scrutiny following reports of video footage showing Atanasov involved in an altercation at the Sofia Prison hospital on November 16, 2022, shortly before his pardon. The footage has raised questions about the medical assessment on which the pardon was based.