site.btaMP Delyan Peevski Gets Bodyguards after Life Threat

MP Delyan Peevski Gets Bodyguards after Life Threat 

Sofia, February 22 (BTA) - MP Delyan Peevski (Movement for Rights and Freedoms) will be protected by bodyguards of the National Bodyguard Service as of February 22 after the law-enforcement services received information that a life attempt is being planned against him, Interior Ministry Chief Secretary Georgi Kostov told a news briefing here Monday. The decision to place Peevski under such protection was made by a trilateral commission including representatives of the Interior Ministry, the State Agency for Natinal Security (SANS) and the National Bodyguard Service.

It followed an alert by the prosecution magistracy to the Interior Ministry about the contemplated attempt against Peeski.

The Interior Ministry Chief Secretary would not confirm or deny reports that they were alerted about the life threat from a Ukrainian, Roman Logvinenko, who was recently detained for a failed life attempt against former SANS agent Alexei Petrov.

He said though that operational information obtained by the Interior Ministry indicates that the plan for the assault on Peevski is much similar to a life attempt against suspected organized crime boss Zlatomir Ivanov outside the Palace of Justice three years ago and a high-profile murder in central Sofia twelve years ago. 

Kostov said that those planning the assault on Peevski have put addresses under surveillance, inspected empty apartments and followed Peevski's movement patterns. In Kostov's words, the person organizing the attack against the MP has expertise and skills to do that.

The plan has allegedly been on for close to two months now.

Peevski originally refused to have bodyguards but on Monday he was talked into accepting them, said the Interior Ministry Chief Secretary.

This is the second situation with a suspected life threat against Peevski in the past year and a half or so. The first one was in the summer of 2014 when three people were apprehended on suspicions of plotting to kill the MP under an order from the majority owner of the failed Corpbank, Tsvetan Vassilev. The prosecution office subsequently said that there had been a mistake and dropped the charges.