site.btaUPDATED PM Attends Inauguration of New Surveillance System on Border with Turkiye, Urges Society to Respect Institutions
The dignity of Bulgarian police officers must be guaranteed and protected by the Bulgarian State and must be respected by society, Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov told reporters near the village of Kraynovo, southeastern Bulgaria, on Friday. He attended the inauguration of a newly built surveillance system covering a 5-kilometre section of the state border with Turkiye in the area. He was accompanied by Interior Minister Daniel Mitov and the head of Border Police, Chief Commissioner Anton Zlatanov.
"The case in Ruse shows that we have reached a point of deliberate attacks on institutions over the last few years, which has led to a breakdown in trust and a lack of synchronization between institutions and the authorities," Zhelyazkov said. According to him, this is "only because of the search for short-term political dividends for building a new party, for participating in campaigns that, unfortunately, use the means and methods of destroying the authority of institutions."
"We stand firmly and will stand close to every representative of the authorities, regardless of who they are, because institutions constitute the State, and the State is called upon to protect the health, life and interests of every Bulgarian citizen," the Prime Minister stressed.
On Wednesday, the chief of police in Ruse, on the Danube, Senior Commissioner Nikolay Kozhuharov, was rushed to hospital in critical condition after being brutally attacked following a confrontation with a group of men allegedly drifting their cars recklessly. Four suspects have been detained in connection with the attack, three aged 19 and one aged 15. Pre-trial proceedings had been initiated for two crimes - hooliganism and moderate bodily harm with hooligan motives. The penalties for these crimes are up to five years and two to ten years in prison, respectively. The law provides for a harsher sentence when the victim is a police officer - three to ten years for causing moderate bodily harm.
"The more the State is attacked, the more vulnerable society becomes. My appeal to everyone is: do not destroy trust in institutions, respect them, they do not belong to one party or another, but to society. The guarantee of their professionalism, stability and sustainability is precisely the trust and respect we owe them," Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov said.
The surveillance system is part of a large-scale project worth BGN 170 million, with funding provided by the European Commission (EC). The first 2.5 km were built near the village of Golyam Dervent.. The goal is to provide reliable video monitoring and strengthen the country’s capacity to counter illegal migration, in line with Bulgaria’s commitments to protect the European Union’s external border.
"This is not just the border between Bulgaria and Turkiye, it is the border between the rest of the world and the European Union. We have all witnessed how sometimes wrong political decisions create huge problems that will take decades to resolve," Zhelyazkov added. The Prime Minister stressed that border police officers deserve not just better working conditions, but conditions that justify the effectiveness of their work.
/DD/
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