WCC-DB appeals against Prosecutor’s Office refusal to start pre-trial proceedings regarding Peevski
The We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (WCC-DB) coalition said on September 17 that it had lodged an appeal to the Sofia Appellate Prosecutor’s Office to overturn the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office refusal to initiate pre-trial proceedings regarding Delyan Peevski’s influence on the prosecutor’s office.
WCC-DB approached the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office in July following statements made by members and the leadership of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) about the violation of the independence of the Bulgarian prosecutor’s office and that office being used to carry out Peevski’s political orders.
The allegations came amid the continuing faction fighting between Peevski and those loyal to Ahmed Dogan, founder of the MRF. Though his expulsion from the MRF has been announced by the Dogan faction, Peevski remains registered – along with Dogan loyalist Dzhevdet Chakurov – as co-leader of the MRF.
WCC-DB said that the allegations practically confirmed what it had been fighting against for years, “the control of the Bulgarian institutions by Peevski and his other political partners”.
It said that the report filed against Peevski, who is subject to US Magnitsky Act sanctions for large-scale corruption (allegations Peevski denies) included data on crimes committed by members of the judiciary and Interior Ministry employees for the purpose of intimidation, coercion and pressure, and crimes against property.
According to WCC-DB, the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office had in effect abdicated its main functions, not even finding a reason to commission an inspection to collect additional information.
“It is also not clear why the Sofia City Prosecutors Office does not require information and explanations from the persons cited in the report, authors of the allegations of unregulated and illegal actions of the institutions,” WCC-DB said.
The coalition said that if the Sofia Appellate Prosecutor’s Office also refused to act, WCC-DB would lodge an appeal in court.
(Archive photo via WCC-DB’s Facebook page)
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