site.btaParliament Sets up Committee of Inquiry to Decide on Immunity of Ataka Leader Siderov

Parliament Sets up Committee of Inquiry to Decide on Immunity of Ataka  Leader Siderov

Sofia, October 28 (BTA) - Parliament established an ad hoc committee to decide whether to grant the request of the Prosecutor General for starting criminal prosecution against Ataka leader and MP Volev Siderov and fellow party member and deputy Dessislav Choukolov and remanding them in custody for hooliganism and coercion. The decision to have the committee was supported by 136 MPs of the 240-seat legislature and Ataka's 11 deputies voted against.

The committee has seven days to find out whether there is enough evidence of an indictable offence committed by the two Ataka MPs. It consists of 17 deputies, two from each group and one unaffiliated MP, and is chaired by Dimiter Glavchev (GERB).

Criminal proceedings against the Ataka leader and Choukolov were launched in the wake of an incident in the evening of October 23 when the two, accompanied by others, entered the building of the National Academy of Theatrical and Film Art (NATFA) and clashed with students. Siderov's party interrupted the students' lectures with shouts "Drug addicts!", "Stupid actors, who will play in dumb Bulgarian series!", "Fags!". He roughed up a female student who tried to record his actions with her mobile phone.

The prosecution authority said that evidence gathered so far leads to the conclusion that the actions of Siderov, Choukolov and their accomplices violated flagrantly public order and showed obvious disrespect for society.

Siderov is known to have a long history of brawls at public places, the latest of his spectacles occurring on the night after the October 25 local elections, when the Ataka leader turned the TV cameras onto him and away from the election results, by reappearing at NATFA and provoking clashes with the students.

In the wake of the scandal, GERB announced that they were beginning talks with the other parliamentary groups on constitutional changes that will curtail the immunity of MPs to the opinions they express and the votes they make in Parliament.

Before the start of the parliamentary sitting on Wednesday, there were two protesting rallies outside the Parliament building. Ataka sympathizers held slogans reading "I am Siderov - arrest me!" and "Ataka: people's last fortress". They were also carrying Bulgarian and national flags. The others demanded that Siderov be stripped of his immunity.

Since 1990, the prosecution authorities have moved for stripping of immunity 32 deputies. Six of them lost their parliamentary protection, for four the request was rejected and 22 gave up their immunity voluntarily, cutting short the procedure. Three of the MPs with stripped immunity were subsequently sentenced in a court of law.

Siderov has refused to give up his immunity.