Magdalena could have been saved, former Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov expressed his opinion to the Bulgarian National Radio.
The body of 18-year-old Magdalena Ruseva was found in an uninhabited property on April 30, after she was missing and wanted since April 26. 17-year-old Ivan Kostov was detained and charged with the murder. Because of the case, the Minister of Interior requested the resignation of the Director of the Ministry of Interior-Haskovo, Ivan Rasokov, which is expected to be officially announced.
"We are not talking about an organized crime group here, but about an incident that occurred between the young man who committed this murder and her. I think that she does not have that much communication with friends and surroundings, which can be checked as quickly as possible. There are also enough cameras in this perimeter. It could have been revealed immediately and we could have avoided this death," Tsvetanov believes.
In the case in Haskovo, he sees a lack of professionalism:
"In the presence of the Minister of Internal Affairs just a few days ago, when a question was asked by journalists - what is happening with the missing Magdalena, this director said that she most likely ran away from home and is hiding from her mother. This is absurd as a statement, as a message. Absolutely belated actions for operational activity that could have saved Magdalena and not to witness such scenes that we are currently watching".
It is unacceptable and there were no preventive actions to de-escalate this tension, Tsvetanov pointed out regarding the protests in Haskovo and the manifestations of aggression last night in front of the police station building in the city. According to him, this could have been avoided.
In an interview for the program "Horizon for You", the former Interior Minister emphasized some worrying things in the Ministry of Interior system in recent years. He recalled the Deborah case, in which there is still no verdict, as well as other cases in which excessive force was used by police officers.
"Currently, we expect to receive security services from some police officers, I am convinced that there are some. But the career growth of a large part of the officers is not done on the principle of professionalism, training, what they have in terms of qualities and potential, but is only based on purely narrow party interest, in order to secure some votes that they can buy in certain elections and thus guarantee the sustainability of the status quo, but not any real and adequate change and fight against crime. We are witnessing extremely worrying symptoms," commented Tsvetanov.
In his words, we have a serious systemic problem with road safety. According to him, it is related to "non-participation, negligence and the lack of any coordination between the institutions that are directly related to the improvement of the road surface, markings, etc.".
"The lack of political will to effectively fight organized crime, the lack of professionalism and the career advancement of unprepared people who, in one form or another over time, have also had a rather bad reputation in the performance of their official duties - these are the main prerequisites," the former minister pointed out. According to him, the main problem is when the ordinary employee wants to work, but is not given operational freedom.
When we have ministers of the interior who do not know the system and only rely on what they are offered and reported as an analysis or summary - I believe that this is also one of the systemic problems, he added, pointing out that there is no real parliamentary control. According to him, the political crisis reflects on the institutions and the way in which they perform their official duties.
Tsvetan Tsvetanov also commented on the case of Evelin Banev - Brendo. He recalled the history of the case and the actions taken over the years.
"Bulgaria is an oasis for organized crime due to a lack of political will. Anyone who says that they could do something, just don't believe them. Just ask him the question - how many convictions or detentions of heavy groups during these periods when they ruled certain governments or ministers and you will see what the result is - zero", he noted. And added:
"The brazen ones are now at large. In March, the Lebeshkovsky brothers were detained for kidnapping 2 people, who are in all likelihood also involved with these 160 kg of cocaine that disappeared on the territory of the country. After this detention of the Lebeshkovsky brothers, have you heard anything about this investigation? No. I am convinced that these 2 people are no longer among the living. We are not able to get out of this spiral of inability to work in the interest of society and for society to receive the security service in an adequate manner".