site.btaProsecutors Investigate Border Protests against Voters from Turkey

Prosecutors Investigate Border Protests against Voters from Turkey

Sofia, March 30 (BTA) - The prosecution service has begun to investigate a March 24 protest rally at the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint on Bulgaria's border with Turkey which was seen as an unacceptable attempt to prevent Bulgarian citizens from exercising their right to vote. The rally was organized by the United Patriots coalition who wanted to keep Bulgarian Turks in Turkey from coming to Bulgaria in large numbers to vote in the March 26 snap parliamentary elections. In this way the protestors intended to minimize Turkey's influence on the outcome of the Bulgarian elections.

Reporting the news about the probe on Thursday, the Prosecution of Bulgaria said that Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov has received many alerts about the rally. According to these alerts, parliamentary candidates and other persons issued threats and behaved violently during the demonstration which was covered by the news media. The claimants say the political rights of the affected citizens were breached. Tsatsarov has referred the alerts to the Sofia City Prosecution Office (SCPO), which is expected to conduct the investigation.

Since there is evidence of a crime at public law but some of the suspects are immune from criminal prosecution, SCPO prosecutors will conduct a personal check. They will ask the media to provide all footage and recorded programmes showing how the suspects behaved. Members of the public and police officers will be asked to give explanations, and relevant documents will be collected.