A campaign by the Ministry of Interior against vote buying is underway in the Roma neighborhood “Stolipinovo“ in Plovdiv. Airi Murad - a funeral director and hodja, who is a former municipal councilor - has been arrested, bTV reports.
He was taken out of the house where he lives in handcuffs.
The arrested person tried to talk to journalists. According to him, everything was set up. His neighbors tried to protect him. They claim that he was seriously ill. The Ministry of Interior is categorical that the hodja traded influence for the elections.
In his home, police found lists of names and a large sum of money.
His arrest was on suspicion of violating the electoral rights of people from the neighborhood, the police explained, BNT reports.
Airi Murad became infamous as the first municipal councilor of Plovdiv without a completed secondary education.
He later took the matriculation exam and on the second attempt passed the higher education degree. In the 2015 - 2019 term, he was also a member of the committee on education, science, religion and ethnic issues in the local parliament.