Borissov and Peevski stripped of National Protection Service bodyguards, vehicles

GERB-UDF leader Boiko Borissov and Movement for Rights and Freedoms leader Delyan Peevski are being stripped of their National Protection Service (NPS) bodyguards, according to statements on May 13.

The Democratic Bulgaria coalition and We Continue the Change party long have campaigned for the step, arguing that NPS bodyguards and vehicle for former prime minister Borissov and Magnitsky Act-sanctioned Peevski are unjustified and an unnecessary cost for taxpayers.

GERB-UDF MP Tomislav Donchev said that the special commission that decides on the provision of NPS protection had decided that as of May 14, Borissov’s security was being removed.

“In any case, this seems like an emotional, God forbid, political decision, but in no case an institutional one,” Donchev said.

“Because this is not about Borissov. This is about a former prime minister and, I emphasise, a former chief secretary of the Interior Ministry with traditional problems with organised crime,” he said.

Bulgarian National Radio reported Peevski – who is sanctioned by the US under the Magnitsky Act for involvement in large-scale corruption – as saying on social networks that his NPS protection was being removed.

According to Peevski, the decision also comes in response to his request in December last year for an assessment by the competent authority of whether there has been a change in the circumstances due to which his security regime was determined.

“I believe in the competence of state bodies and in their expertise, as well as in their responsibility in making decisions. With this, a piece of propaganda chewing gum of WCC and DB has gone to the trash. Which is good news,” Peevski said.

Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev told reporters: “Delyan Peevski and Boiko Borissov are left without any security from the state, including from the Interior Ministry, not only from the National Protection Service.

“Both have enough resources, if they feel threatened in another way, to provide security. The security with state funds, which lasted for years, ends today ,” Demerdzhiev said.

WCC and DB, then in coalition, tabled amendments in the previous Parliament to remove taxpayer funded personal protection from Peevski and Borissov, but the amendments were not put to the vote.

The issue returned to the agenda when the new Parliament was constituted, with Roumen Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria – the largest parliamentary group – speaking in favour of the removal of the protection, but saying that this should be decided by the commission, not through legislation.