site.btaProsecutor General Requests Parliament's Clearance to Arrest and Criminally Prosecute Ataka Leader

Prosecutor General Requests Parliament's Clearance to Arrest and Criminally Prosecute Ataka Leader

Sofia, October 26 (BTA) - Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov
submitted Monday morning a motion for authorization by the
National Assembly to start criminal prosecution against MP Volen
 Siderov and party fellow Dessislav Choukolov and to arrest them
 for hooliganism and coercion, the prosecution authority said.

News of the arrest motion comes right after Siderov and his
party stole the night after the October 25 local elections in
Bulgaria by storming the building of the National Academy of
Theatrical and Film Art (NATFA), disturbing the work of acting
students and provoking clashes with them.

Shortly after police dragged him out of NATFA, an unknown man
broke the police cordon and punched Siderov in the face. Siderov
 was taken to the nearest police precinct for questioning and
the attacker was arrested.   

Interior Minister Roumyana Buchvarova and Interior Ministry
Chief Secretary Georgi Kostov were at the scene of the NATFA
clashes. In a post in Facebook, Buchvarova wrote that she went
there because she does not accept that MPs can behave in such a
way in an autonomous higher educational establishment. She added
 that Siderov's immunity as MP limits the Interior Ministry's
actions in regards to him.

Ataka followers explained that Siderov went to NATFA because for
 two days police had failed to react to a report he had filed
along with a photo of a person who had allegedly assaulted him.
 
This has been the second such incident after Siderov and his
people forced into the NATFA building last Friday violating its
autonomy.

Criminal proceedings against the Ataka leader and Choukolov were
 launched in the wake of an incident in the evening of October
23 when Siderov and Choukolov  accompanied by others entered
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 evidence gathered so far lead to the conclusion that the
actions of Siderov, Choukolov and their accomplices violated
flagrantly public order and showed obvious disrespect for
society, the prosecution authority points out.

The GERB party issued a statement saying that Siderov has
demonstrated arrogant disregard for democratic principles, legal
 and public order and inadmissible disobedience to the
law-enforcement authorities.

On October 12, Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov asked to have
Siderov and Choukolov stripped of their parliamentary immunity
after yet another row in a central Sofia street. So far, the
National Assembly has not pronounced itself on the requests
made.