Second Protest in Support of Detained Mayor Kotsev Takes Place in Varna

Momchil Rusev, BTA correspondent Danail Voykov

Protest in support of detained Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev, July 14, 2025, Varna (BTA Photo/Krasimir Krastev)

Varna, on the Black Sea,

14.07.2025 20:08

(BTA)

For the second time, people protested in Varna on Monday in support of the detained on July 8 Mayor of the city Blagomir Kotsev. The previous action in defense of the Mayor was on July 9. Those dissatisfied with the Mayor's detention gathered in front of the Municipality building.

In addition to citizens, the protest was attended by Continue the Change Chair Assen Vassilev and Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria MPs, as well as local politicians, deputy mayors and others.

Before the start of the protest, a petition was organized in support of Kotsev and in defense of the rule of law in Bulgaria. The protesters put up posters with the inscriptions ‘Today is Blago, tomorrow is you’, ‘Justice, not orders’ and others. Protesters chanted ‘We want our mayor back’ several times.

Kotsev was arrested last week after a corruption tipoff from a failed public procurement tenderer. The arrest caused an outrage and protests in Varna and Sofia. Late on Friday evening, the Sofia City Court ordered that Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev, municipal councillors Yordan Kateliev and Nikolay Stefanov and businessman Ivaylo Marinov be remanded in custody. The court's ruling is subject to appeal before a higher court.

The Renew Europe group in the European Parliament, of which Continue Change (CC) is a part, strongly condemned the growing attack on democratic institutions and the rule of law in Bulgaria, illustrated by the politically motivated arrest of Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev, the press centre of the CC party reported.

On Monday, the President of the ALDE Party and Member of the European Parliament, Svenja Hahn, said on X that he has written a letter to European Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, Michael McGrath, raising alarm over what she describes as a "systematic campaign of political pressure" against the Bulgarian opposition party Continue the Change.

/RY/