site.btaRuse Police Chief Was Attacked from Behind - Interior Minister Mitov

The Director of the Ruse Police, Senior Commissioner Kozhuharov, was attacked from behind and suffered blows that later led to his hospitalization with a broken rib, a torn kidney, a hematoma, and blood loss of about a liter and a half. This was announced at a briefing at the Council of Ministers by the Minister of Interior, Daniel Mitov. 

"The blows were clearly strong and from behind. Whoever did it knew how to do it," the Minister added.

He also stated that there are many versions circulating in the public space. "These versions are not from the Ministry of Interior—they were invented by various websites," Mitov said. 

The chief of police in Ruse (on the Danube), Senior Commissioner Nikolay Kozhuharov, was attacked from behind and suffered blows that later led to his hospitalization with a broken rib, a torn kidney, a hematoma, and blood loss of about a liter and a half, said Interior Minister Daniel Mitov at a briefing at the Council of Ministers.

Kozhuharov was attacked on the night of September 4 after confronting a group of youths who were allegedly driving recklessly. The youths were subsequently identified and arrested.

According to Mitov, the driver was the first to strike. He pointed out that while this is not apparent in footage circulated by trolls online, it is clearly visible in the original recording.

We are seeing an act of vigilantism and arrogance. Shame on those who justify aggression, the interior minister said. He added that he would not address the defence’s arguments, as verbal aggression is not captured on camera. I cannot determine who said what, but even in these situations, there is a civilized way to respond, he said.

We are expected to maintain order and control in various situations, yet the Ministry of Interior faces criticism when a police officer is seriously injured during an intervention, Mitov said.

When asked why Commissioner Kozhuharov did not go to the hospital immediately, the minister explained that the injuries were internal and Kozhuharov was unaware of their severity. At around 3:30 a.m., he called a police car to take him to the hospital. Earlier, immediately after the incident, the head of Ruse police also went to the emergency room, where he received a superficial examination and the internal injuries were not detected.

The decision to detain the accused in this case depended on the police team present at the scene, Mitov said, in response to a question why the suspects were not detained immediately.

Security camera footage of the altercation released on social media later disproved some aspects of the authorities' version of the events in favour of the detainees' version. 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.

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 the incident, because the video footage shows this is not a case of contempt for the State, as Mitov described it, nor is it an attack on Bulgaria's institutions. Later in the day, Deputy Interior Minister Filip Popov commented that various versions of the incident were being spread by sources outside the Interior Ministry, who perceive the events "in a subjective manner". According to him, the Ministry's version is clear. "The disinformation does not come from the Ministry of Interior," he added.