Protests in Bulgaria Continue

Protests in solidarity with accused Varna mayor Blagomir Kotsev – seen by supporters as targeted because of his political affiliation with We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria – are continuing, with a large turnout in Sofia on July 18 and another protest scheduled for July 22.

The protests on July 18 in Sofia, Varna and Dobrich, the latest sparked by the actions by the anti-corruption commission and prosecutors against Kotsev and two others, were fuelled in particular by the appellate court July 17 decision to remand Kotsev in custody pending trial.

The July 18 protest, organised by WCC-DB – on whose ticket Kotsev won election as mayor in 2023, defeating incumbent Ivan Portnih from Boiko Borissov’s GERB, had the theme “You don’t have handcuffs for everyone”.

Kotsev is the latest in a series of politicians from WCC-DB to be targeted for prosecution. He and two municipal councillors are accused of participating in an organised crime group for corruption and money laundering.

On July 19, WCC-DB MP and former justice minister Atanas Slavov told Bulgarian National Television: “The case against Blagomir Kotsev is based on some form of political repression against the opposition”.

At national level, WCC-DB – the second-largest group in Parliament – is in opposition to the GERB-Bulgarian Socialist Party-ITN coalition, a ruling majority held in place by Magnitsky Act-sanctioned Delyan Peevski and his parliamentary group.

Slavov told BNT that there was a total lack of arguments for remanding Kotsev in custody. There is not a single piece of evidence pointing to corrupt action by the mayor of Varna, Slavov said.

He said that what the prosecution had presented in court did not justify this most severe measure.

“Our conclusion is clear – this is a form of political repression, selective, against the opposition,” he said.

“There is information that special intelligence means were used – the prosecution does not include these in the case, recordings are leaking about which it is not clear who made them – are they authentic, were they put together and most importantly – there is no proportionality. This is an abuse of procedural power,” Slavov said.

Kiril Petkov, former co-leader of WCC, told reporters on July 19 that at the previous night’s protest “they gave the same signal to him as he gave to them – 10 000 hearts”.