The chairman of "We Continue the Change" Assen Vassilev accused Iliyana Yotova of prematurely pardoning Ognyan Atanasov, known as "Petrich's Escobar", and called on her to withdraw from the race. Vassilev made the claims during an extraordinary press conference, reported by novini.bg.
According to Vassilev, the man was convicted in Bulgaria for drug trafficking.
The chairman of “We continue the change“ claims that Yotova pardoned Atanasov with decree No. 119 about 10 years before his sentence expired. According to him, the decree was not published in the “State Gazette“, and the reasons for the pardon decision are not publicly known.
Against this backdrop, Vassilev called on Yotova to withdraw from the race.
“We call on Ms. Yotova to withdraw from the race. She did not see inhumane treatment in the Ivancheva case, but she saw inhumane treatment for a drug dealer,“ he said.
“I believe that Bulgarian citizens will not vote for a person who lets dealers sell drugs to the children of Bulgaria. This is not compromising evidence, but a fact. We are saying it now because Ms. Yotova wants the trust of citizens for the first time,“ said Asen Vassilev.