site.btaMEP Elena Yoncheva Remains Committed to Working for Release of Two Bulgarian Sailors in Yemen

MEP Elena Yoncheva said on Monday she keeps working for the release of two Bulgarian sailors held captive in Yemen, and there is progress in the case. “Support from the Bulgarian institutions and their interaction can only speed up the process,” Yoncheva said in a Facebook post.

Earlier in the day, Movement for Rights and Freedoms – New Beginning leader Delyan Peevski urged the government to mandate Yoncheva to negotiate for the release of the Bulgarian sailors from the cargo ship Galaxy Leader hijacked by Houthi rebels in Yemen on November 19, 2023. Yoncheva met with the ship’s Bulgarian captain and first mate in Yemen in September 2024.

She noted in her Facebook post: “My mission to Yemen is not a private journey. It is part of my responsibilities as a member of the European Parliament, a journalist and a Bulgarian citizen who can help fellow Bulgarians in distress.”

“My mission is humanitarian, and I put forward only humanitarian arguments before the authorities in Sana’a,” Yoncheva went on to say. She thanked the Bulgarian institutions for sending her a letter which confirms that her mission is entirely humanitarian. She said that when she visited Yemen in September, she brought along a letter from the families of the two Bulgarians, about which the Foreign Ministry was notified.

In Yemen, Yoncheva saw that there was a very strong chance for the two sailors to go home, but an obstacle emerged at the last moment.