Bulgaria: State action against opposition figures prompts thousands to protest
Several thousand people turned out to protest on July 16 in Bulgaria’s capital city Sofia and in other cities in Bulgaria and abroad, indignant at state action against opposition figures.
Turnout for the latest in the customary protests by the Justice for All civic initiative, which for years has campaigned for genuine judicial reform in Bulgaria, was boosted by outrage at actions by prosecutors and the anti-corruption commission against figures from the opposition We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria coalition.
In Sofia, the protest had the theme “let’s take away the cudgels from the deribeite” – derebei, a Turkish word, refers to feudal lords in the Ottoman Empire who had considerable autonomy in their domains. In contemporary usage, it refers to autocrats, oppressors and tyrants. In the Bulgarian political context, it is a reference to the abuse of state power, such as the judiciary, for partisan political ends.
As it has been for years, at the protest ire was directed against GERB-UDF leader Boiko Borissov, Magnitsky Act-sanctioned Movement for Rights and Freedoms – New Beginning leader Delyan Peevski, and acting Prosecutor-General Borislav Sarafov.
Peevski, with Sarafov depicted as his cudgel.
A catalyst for the indignation and large turnout was the arrest of Varna mayor Blagomir Kotsev, of WCC-DB, one of two figures from the coalition who in the most recent municipal elections defeated GERB rivals in major cities.
Kotsev is alleged to have acted as part of an organised crime group attempting to shake down would-be contractors, but on July 16, a key part of the supposed evidence against him collapsed when his former deputy mayor Dian Ivanov said that he had withdrawn his testimony, saying that he had made the allegations against Kotsev under duress from prosecutors and that these allegations had been false.
‘Blago (the familiar form of Kotsev’s first name) for all, all for Blago’
‘Freedom for Blago, prison for Peevski and Borissov’
The move against Kotsev is the latest, and has become the most high-profile, against others in municipal government linked to WCC – DB.
The protest in Sofia, which began outside the Palace of Justice, was joined by leaders and members of Parliament from WCC – DB and the Ahmed Dogan loyalists of the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms group, as well by long-standing participants – groups and individuals – in protests for reform.
Velislav Velichkov, of Justice for All, said in an address: “We know who orders it and who executes it – this man has not declared war on just a few deputy mayors, but on an entire parliamentary group, seeking to destroy the small opposition to his mafia government”.
Ivailo Mirchev, an MP who is the co-leader of Democratic Bulgaria, said: “The anti-corruption commission has a very clear owner – Delyan Slavchev Peevski”.
According to Mirchev, anti-corruption commission head Anton Slavchev spoke to Peevski “every day” to find out against whom action should be taken.
Ahead of the protest, the organisers said: “We no longer have an independent judiciary, but a poorly disguised legal service for the powerful of the day and in particular for the corpulent politician who distributes the portions and orders the cudgels on behalf of the New Beginning,” a reference to Peevski.
“We also do not have a parliamentary republic, but a prosecutorial-oligarchic conspiracy,” they said.
After several addresses outside the Palace of Justice, participants marched in procession to the old Parliament building, with the many thousands joining in chants of “this is not Moscow”, “freedom” and “prison for Borissov”, along with anti-Peevski slogans.
WCC former co-leader Kiril Petkov, who was among those from his party to attend the protest, said in a Facebook post ahead of the event that the party supported the protest but it was not party-related and he appealed to other groups, including erstwhile allies of WCC, to turn out for it.
“This is a protest of all citizens who do not want Bulgaria to turn into Belarus or Georgia, do not want dictatorship, lawlessness, a two-faced state,” Petkov said.
Outside Parliament, protests of the past were invoked, including those that decades before had shown rejection of the communist era.
Protests were also held in Varna and Rousse, and abroad, in Brussels, London, Berlin and Munich.
(All photos: Clive Leviev-Sawyer)
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