site.btaVelichie Leader Declares 100% Support for Detained Varna Mayor

Commenting on Tuesday's detention of Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev, Velichie leader Ivelin Mihaylov expressed 100% support for him. Talking to reporters in Parliament, he said Velichie would organize its sympathizers in Varna (on the Black Sea) to join a protest on Wednesday evening

Kotsev was detained in connection with a case handled by the Counter-Corruption Commission and the Sofia City Prosecution Office.

Mihaylov said his party would "begin actively exposing crimes that occurred in Varna" before Kotsev, who was elected mayor on the ticket of the opposition Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria. 

"A month and a half ago, I already knew he was going to be arrested," Mihaylov said, explaining that he had told so many people about it, but not the mayor. He declined to say how he came to know about it.

Mihaylov blamed the operation on MRF-New Beginning leader Delyan Peevski, saying that he controlled the police. "In Varna, there are criminal groups that cannot carry out their uncontrolled construction under this mayor. Kotsev stopped illegal construction, which is the reason behind this operation," he commented.

"GERB leader Boyko Borissov is always close to Peevski, those people are dividing the country between themselves. Not a single one of their mayors or close associates has been caught [in wrongdoing]. Suddenly, only Continue the Change mayors have been faced with major corruption accusations. Right now, there is a hunt for people from Continue the Change," said Mihaylov.

He was apparently referring to the arrest in late June of Sofia deputy mayor Nikola Barbutov on charges of participation in an organized crime group and offering a bribe.