site.btaVelichie Leader Says Beating of Ruse Police Chief Is Attack on State, Questions Meaning of State

The parliamentary group of Velichie issued a declaration regarding Thursday’s beating of Ruse Regional Police Directorate head Nikolay Kozhuharov and the statement of Interior Minister Daniel Mitov that the act was an attack on the State. “We one hundred percent agree with this assertion, but the question is: what is the State?” said Velichie leader Ivelin Mihaylov from the rostrum of the National Assembly on Friday.
 
“The State is the Constitution - the fundamental law that all institutions must follow and work under,” he noted.

Mihaylov posed the question whether this would remain an isolated incident or if a series of such actions could be expected, possibly reaching ministers, MPs, and senior state officials. He argued that the reason lies in the mafia-style model of governance that has been in place for many years. 

Mihaylov argued that senior politicians and police have long shielded criminals, making society view the police as complicit. He warned that more police chiefs and even rank-and-file officers may suffer attacks as a result. Mihaylov blamed 35 years of mismanagement, especially in the past 15, for the decline of the Interior Ministry, and said police leaders would not be targeted if they stopped serving as a tool of those in power and fulfilled their duties properly.