site.btaParliament Will Convene Over Police Brutality during Last Year's Anti-establishment Protests, Politicians Call for Accountability

August 15 (BTA) - In a statement on Saturday National
Assembly Chair Iva Miteva said she will convene an extraordinary
 parliamentary sitting on August 17 in connection with a video
of police brutality during last year's anti-government protests.

The video, shown in Parliament on Friday, caused shock and a
wave of comments both on social networks and among politicians,
who on Saturday described the footage as "harrowing" and called
for those responsible to be held accountable.

An ad hoc committee probing possible police brutality during the
 2020 protests against the previous government and against
corruption, screened Friday security camera footage showing
police  kicking and punching detained protestors by the
government building in central Sofia. Lawyers and magistrates
have been searching for more than a year to find exactly this
footage from the night of July 10, 2020 from a security camera
of the National Protection Service.

National Protection Service chief Emil Tonev had denied having
any security camera footage from that night and that spot. His
deputy subsequently said that they can only give the video to
the national security authorities. This video was found sitting
in a drawer in a Sofia Directorate of the Interior office and
was made available to the ad hoc committee after the
interference of caretaker Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov.

Nikolai Hadzhigenov MP of Rise Up BG! Here We Come!, who chairs
the ad hoc committee, but before being elected to Parliament was
 the legal representative of a protestor who complained of
police violence, said that whoever is responsible for concealing
 the video, was an accomplice in a crime. He said President
Rumen Radev and caretaker Prime Minister Stefan Yanev owe an
answer about how long they intend to keep Emil Tonev as head of
the National Protection Service.

He said it was a crime that the checks of the prosecution
service and the Interior Ministry found no police brutality.

Hadzhigenov also said that because of that camera footage former
 interior minister Mladen Marinov, who is an MP of the formerly
ruling GERB party now, has been sent to Parliament to avoid
prosecution through his MP immunity.

Hadzhigenov noted there are more videos his committee is yet to
watch. 

Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) Leader Kornelia Ninova
commented, as quoted by her party's press centre on Saturday,
that the footage showing violence against protestors is
harrowing. In her words, everyone is talking about this footage
now, but talking is not enough. She called for an unbiased
investigation, a court and liability. Ninova also said that the
most responsible for this is the person under whose windows of
the government building it happened.

There Is Such a People leader Slavi Trifonov said in a Facebook
post on Saturday that the one responsible for the police
violence against protestors last year is the then prime
minister, Boyko Borissov. The footage proves that the protestors
 were right to protest against the Borissov government, Trifonov
 wrote. His post is accompanied by a link to the video of police
 violence with the description saying that "the footage is
harrowing" and "hidden by the former power holders". In his
words, everyone involved in this crime should be arrested right
away and put on trial immediately.   

In a video on Facebook, Democratic Bulgaria Floor Leader Hristo
Ivanov said that the responsibility for the brutal police
violence against protestors rests with Boyko Borissov and
Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev.  
 
On Sunday, two ministers of the interior in the third Borissov
cabinet condemned the police violence on social media. Mladen
Marinov and Hristo Terziisky, longtime employees of the Interior
 Ministry and current GERB-UDF MPs, wrote that they vehemently
"oppose" and "condemn" all forms of violence.

Terziisky wrote he continues to stand by his words that "we, as
employees of the Interior Ministry, have nothing to gain from
covering violations because they undermine the reputation of the
 Ministry." For his part, Marinov wrote that he has never
concealed information about committed crimes in his career as a
police officer. "MPs and persons who allege that I have
concealed information about crimes in my capacity as Interior
Miinster will have to prove their claims in court," wrote
Marinov.

In a statement on Sunday, the Sofia City Prosecution said that
under its oversight
65 pretrial proceedings have been launched in connection with
acts of hooliganism and instances of bodily harm caused during
the protests of the summer of 2020. Twenty-four have already
been concluded and submitted to the court.

Also, the Sofia City Prosecution oversees pretrial proceedings
about bodily harm caused by police officers while they
discharged their duties. In the course of the investigation
witnesses have been questioned and camera surveillance footage
has been recovered including the recording, shown in Parliament.
 The video has been analyzed, documents have been retrieved and
expert medical evaluations have been ordered and carried out.

Four employees of the Interior Minister have been pressed with
charges. The investigation is ongoing and is placed under
special supervision. RI/DS,PP





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