site.btaVarna Mayor’s Detention Sparks Multi-City Protests and Political Showdown over Rule of Law

Thousands of Bulgarians took to the streets on Wednesday, as the detention of Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev on corruption charges set off protests in four cities and a war of words among parties, prosecutors and European lawmakers.

The largest crowd gathered in Varna, on the Black Sea, where deputy mayors, municipal councillors and residents staged a third rally since Kotsev’s July 9 arrest. Demonstrators waved placards, chanted “Freedom!” and heard a statement from former deputy mayor Dian Ivanov, read aloud by organizers. They also demanded the release of the two detained councillors Nikolay Stefanov and Yordan Kateliev.

In Sofia, hundreds assembled outside the Palace of Justice under the slogan Let’s Take the Truncheons of Feudal Lords before marching toward the National Assembly. Banners declared “The law is not a weapon” and “#Varna for Blago”. MPs, civic activists and writers walked alongside the crowd.

Democratic Bulgaria (DB) Chair Atanas Atanassov said, “What has been happening in recent months is in effect a special political operation,” adding that state repression aims “to smash and destroy the opposition.”

Initiative Justice for All Chair Velislav Velichkov told the crowd, “Someone wants to seize Sofia and Varna without elections… This person has declared war… seeking to wipe out the small real opposition… by simply putting its people in jail.”

Continue the Change Chair Assen Vassilev urged unity: “The only way to have justice is for us to be together in the square and Europe to support us.” Protesters later marched to the National Assembly.

Later, expatriate Bulgarians rallied outside the European Parliament in Brussels. Renew Europe MEPs Nikola Minchev and Hristo Petrov joined them. “We expect and fight for an independent judiciary in Bulgaria so that judicial authorities are not used for repression and do not act brutally,” Minchev said. He added, “We will try to keep the subject of the rule of law in Bulgaria on the agenda of the European Parliament.”

Renew Europe members on the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee will request a mission to Bulgaria over the detention of Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev. Posting images from Wednesday’s Brussels rally, the group warned of “political interference and selective justice” and insisted the judiciary “must remain independent”.

A separate protest in Ruse, on the Danube, collected signatures on a nationwide petition supporting Kotsev. Organizer Daniela Petrova told the crowd, “We will fight against the violation of justice and the use of legal institutions as weapons.” Local Continue the Change (CC) representative Orlin Penkov warned, “This is selective justice.”

Around mid-day on Wednesday, Ivanov, once considered Kotsev’s close friend, posted on social media that his sworn testimony against the mayor had been coerced. “Today I submitted a statement to the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office, in which I declare that my testimony in case file DP 220/24 is untrue, as it was given under pressure from employees of the Counter-Corruption Commission – Sofia,” he wrote. Continue the Change party that Kotsev is a member of, noted, “The main witness against Mayor Blagomir Kotsev has officially admitted that everything he previously said was false.”

From the parliamentary rostrum, Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) Co-Floor Leader Nikolay Denkov warned, “Democracy in Bulgaria is under attack.” He told MPs that a series of public political arrests amounted to intimidation and vowed that the party is not afraid and will take to the streets in Sofia, Varna, Ruse, Brussels, London, Berlin and Munich in protest.

Velichie floor leader Ivelin Mihaylov called the case "100% political repression". “The law has been totally violated. The principle of justice has been destroyed,” Mihaylov said, promising his party would join the evening protest.

GERB leader Boyko Borissov, asked about the unrest, replied, “I don’t seek revenge – life is taking care of that. Their own people filed the complaints, not us.” He said he did not know the whistle-blower Plamenka Dimitrova, whose report triggered the investigation.

Responding to criticism, the Association of Prosecutors in Bulgaria issued a statement defending the Sofia City Prosecution Office. “One’s office, political status or public authority cannot serve as justification for exemption from criminal liability,” the statement said, insisting that “suggestions of arbitrary or unilateral behaviour by the prosecution are unfounded and misleading.”