PP is a target of the Bulgarian prosecutor's office and the investigative bodies. This is how Blagoevgrad Mayor Metodi Baykushev commented before the meeting of the party's National Council, starting at 3:00 p.m., on the actions of the Anti-Corruption Commission in Sofia and Varna and the decision of the Sofia City Court to remand Blagomir Kotsev in custody.
After a six-hour session late last night, the Sofia City Court remanded in custody permanently the mayor of Varna, Blagomir Kotsev, the municipal councilors from "Continue the Change" Yordan Kateliyev and Nikolay Stefanov and businessman Ivaylo Marinov.
Before the hearing, it became clear that a member of parliament had been added to the organized group, initially unknown, and later the prosecution revealed that it was Asen Vassilev.
The prosecutor quoted the main witness in the case, Plamenka Dimitrova, that when the mayor of Varna and the two municipal councilors asked her for a 15 percent bribe to win a public procurement contract worth one and a half million leva, she assumed that part of the money would go to the chairman of "Continuing the Change".
Minutes later, Asen Vassilev stated that he was waiving his immunity and would sue Plamenka Dimitrova for her allegations.
According to Baykushev, the accusation against the mayor of Varna Municipality is "stitched together with white threads":
"As a lawyer, I want to say that what happened yesterday is a "spitting" on the Constitution and the law by the prosecutor's office and the court. The jurisdiction of a court cannot be justified on the basis of a hypothetical accusation, and against an MP who has not been asked for immunity. What the Prosecutor's Office should actually do is investigate who is releasing false recordings in the media, who made these recordings. Their job is to investigate who is exerting political pressure in Bulgaria. It is obvious that the target in this case is the political party "We continue the change" and personally Asen Vassilev, while constantly looking for attempts to have someone bear false witness against him, as well as against other of our members, mayors, deputy mayors, etc.".
When asked if he was worried that he might be attacked as mayor of Blagoevgrad, broadcast by "We continue the change", Baykushev replied that the party would take retaliatory legal action:
"All citizens should be worried that anyone could be the next target. When there is no justice, the whole people suffer. Of course, the scariest thing is to hit political opponents, because then everyone will "shrink into their shells" and they will be afraid. But what we want to say is that we are not afraid. On the contrary, we will fight with legal means and now we will also undertake our demands for an investigation into all these issues. We are assembling a legal team that will take the appropriate actions, so we will not leave things this way. In no case will we be in a defensive position. We will demand that those who make false, fabricated recordings be investigated.
The National Council will also discuss when and on what topic a vote of no confidence in the government of Rosen Zhelyazkov will be submitted.
At this hour, "We Continue the Change" is convening the National Council of the party to discuss its actions after the arrest of the mayor of Varna and the corruption scandal in Sofia.