Early in the morning of September 18, several cars blocked the entrances to the official parking lot of the parliament in a sign of support for the mayor of Varna Blagomir Kotsev. This was announced in a Facebook post by PP-DB MP Lena Borislavova.
"These are the entrances to the official parking lot of the National Assembly. Shortly after 5:40. The entrances through which, without getting out of the NSO cars, Borisov and Peevski find themselves in the plenary hall. Well, today they won't be able to. They will have to walk. As one of their MPs had said “Walk, okay!” This inconvenience can hardly be compared to the ruined life, the round-the-clock biting by bedbugs for over 2 months in custody and without being able to be with their families, which is happening to the Deputy Mayor of Sofia Nikola Barbutov and the Mayor of Varna Blago Kotsev", wrote Borislavova.
The information was also confirmed by the former leader of PP-DB Kiril Petkov. "Today Peevski and Borisov will have to walk on foot, because the protest for Blago and Nikola Barbutov does not allow them to enter through the back entrance with all their security. It is time to walk among the people", wrote Petkov.
There will be no hearing on Kotsev's measure today, as the court panel, which was supposed to consider its amendment from "detention in custody" in a lighter case, he recused himself.
Subsequently, supporters of the mayor of Varna protested in his defense. Traditionally, the protest began in front of the municipality building, and shortly after, people set off on a march to the Courthouse.
On September 12, the Sofia City Court left the mayor of Varna in custody. The decision was not final and thus became the subject of an appeal before the Sofia Court of Appeal.
Kotsev's defense requested that he be released from custody because, according to the lawyers, in the last 2 months the prosecutor's office and the Anti-Corruption Commission have done nothing substantive about this investigation.
Blagomir Kotsev was detained in early July, and the charge against him is participation in an organized criminal group for the purpose of bribery. Two municipal councilors were also detained with him, but there is no evidence so far that they are requesting a change in their detention measures.