site.btaYes, Bulgaria! Party Demands Dismissals over Police Chief Incident Misinformation

The Yes, Bulgaria! party, part of the opposition coalition of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), demanded on Tuesday that Interior Minister Daniel Mitov dismiss everyone who participated in "spreading disinformation" about an incident in Ruse, which ended with chief of police in Ruse, Senior Commissioner Nikolay Kozhuharov, being hospitalized on September 4 following a middle-of-the-night altercation with four youths. The MPs came out with this position after videos of the altercation by a security camera disproved some aspects of the authorities' version of the events. 

The first announcement by the authorities was that Kozhuharov was in hospital in critical condition after being brutally attacked in a confrontation with a group of men drifting their cars. It was later announced that he was assaulted even after identifying himself as the police chief. Also, they said that the youths initiated the clash.

The four youths, who were later arrested and charged, insisted that there was no car-drifting, that they didn't start the fight and that the Ruse police chief did not tell them who he was. 

CC-DB MP Ivaylo Mirchev, quoted by the coalition press service, said: "In the last few hours, the BG Elves page has published the recordings that the police obviously hid from the Bulgarian public in connection with the incident involving the police chief in Ruse. The most important thing that can be seen from the recordings is that the Minister of the Interior [Daniel Mitov] lied. Daniel Mitov announced that nothing would be hidden from journalists and the public. These recordings were obviously hidden because what we see today has nothing to do with the initial version."

Mirchev said that the videos clearly show that the detainees' version of the events is largely confirmed, and this is not a case of contempt for the state, as Mitov described it, nor is it an attack on Bulgaria's institutions.

Yes, Bulgaria! Co-chair Bozhidar Bozhanov insisted that the Interior Minister release everyone involved in misinforming the public—in concealing information, in providing false information, and in allowing the Ministry of Interior, once again, to lose credibility. Bozhanov stated that the Minister should release the remaining recordings from closer cameras.

Yes, Bulgaria! is adamant that if their demands are not met, then Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov should demand Mitov's resignation, as this would be right to do by the public.