Investigations continue into Borissov’s allegation that Dogan ordered his murder
Bulgaria’s State Agency for National Security is continuing its investigation into the allegation by Boiko Borissov that veteran Bulgarian Turkish politician Ahmed Dogan ordered his assassination – and in the meantime, there will be no hearing in Parliament on the matter and nor will the Prosecutor-General go on television talk shows to talk about it.
On February 20, after Parliament voted to accept the resignation of his government, Borissov – angered by an allegation made against him by a Movement for Rights and Freedoms MP – in turn alleged that Dogan had taken out a contract on him because of Borissov acting against certain organised crime interests.
Borissov said that he was aware of this because of a report by a foreign intelligence service.
The allegation by Borissov resulted in a statement by Dogan’s successor as MRF leader, Lyutvi Mestan, who said that Borissov had insulted “the architect of ethnic peace” in Bulgaria and was provoking ethnic conflict.
Some days later, there were unconfirmed media reports that Dogan was “considering” suing Borissov.
Mestan requested an investigation, writing to President Rossen Plevneliev. Plevneliev referred the matter to Prosecutor-General Sotir Tsatsarov, who referred it to the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office, which asked the State Agency for National Security to investigate the matter.
This investigation also encompasses the question whether classified information laws were broken.
Media reports have quoted two former intelligence chiefs, in office between 1997 and 2012, as denying knowledge of any such report of a plans for Borissov to be murdered on the orders of Dogan, although Kircho Kirov, in office between 2002 and 2012, said that he had been aware of a plot to assassinate Borissov, but this had not been initiated by Dogan.
On February 27, Parliament voted against a motion for former and current intelligence and security chiefs and the Prosecutor-General to be requested to come to the National Assembly to brief a closed session on Borissov’s allegations.
Tsatsarov said the same day that he had refused an invitation to appear on a television talk show to discuss the allegations and investigation. The show, hosted by Slavi Trifonov, has said that it will continue to ask the questions nightly until the Prosecutor-General answers them.
“My decision not to accept the invitation to be a guest on this TV show does not mean that I am escaping responsibility in connection to these questions. After I answer these questions, I will not respond to their tone of ‘we will continue repeating the questions until he sits on our red sofa’,” Tsatsarov said.
(Photo of Dogan: dps.bg)
