site.bta Ataka leader Siderov Arrested for Hooliganism

Ataka leader Siderov Arrested for Hooliganism

Sofia, November 17 (BTA) - Ataka leader Volen Siderov was arrested Tuesday for hooliganism. The arrest came after the controversial politician and fellow party member and MP Dessislav Choukolov were charged with hooliganism involving extreme arrogance and for coercion. Siderov faces a second charge of coercion, the prosecution authority said.

The two were remanded in custody for an incident in which they burst into the building of the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts on October 25, the night after the local elections, provoking clashes with students and police.

Earlier in the day, the prosecution authority said that the two were detained for 72 hours.

The arrest became possible after Parliament granted November 5 a motion by the Prosecutor General to strip Siderov and Choukolov of their MP immunity so that they can be prosecuted.

Siderov and Choukolov refused to sign the orders for their charging, to give explanations and to sign the protocol of interrogation.

Speaking to a crowd of followers outside the National Investigative Service, Siderov said there is dictatorship in Bulgaria and that the purpose of his arrest was to remove him from the political scene.

He also said that the power of Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov and Prime Minister Boyko Borissov will quite soon be shaken and this process will begin as of the day of his arrest.

He went on to say that the US Ambassador has instructed Tsatsarov and Borissov to destroy him.

Siderov's lawyer Yavor Notev said that his client begins a hunger strike. According to Notev, Siderov has been detained in violation of the Constitution because the charges pressed against him exceed the scope of the reasons for which Siderov was stripped of his MP immunity.

Notev will appeal the 72-hour detention.

The Ataka supporters waiting outside the building of the Investigative Service, tried to break the police cordon but were pushed off. They chanted "Mafia!" and "Fascists!" and waved Bulgarian and Russian flags.

This is the second case in which Siderov faces hooliganism charges. In a separate incident in central Sofia in early October, the Ataka leader and his deputy Choukolov assaulted a small tobacco shop in central Sofia and accused the owners of selling drugs and behaved aggressively with them - for which they were charged with hooliganism and coercion. Siderov is also tried on charges of hooliganism and inflicting a minor bodily injury on a police officer for an incident at the Varna Airport, after he, under the apparent influence of alcohol started a row involving a French diplomat on a flight from Sofia to Varna.