site.btaUPDATED Sofia City Prosecution Office Proposes Lifting MP Daniel Aleksandrov’s Immunity

Sofia City Prosecution Office Proposes Lifting MP Daniel Aleksandrov’s Immunity
Sofia City Prosecution Office Proposes Lifting MP Daniel Aleksandrov’s Immunity
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The Sofia City Prosecution Office made a proposal to Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev to submit to the National Assembly a request for lifting the immunity of an MP with initials D. A., the Sofia City Prosecution Office said in a press release here on Wednesday.

The proposal was drawn up in connection with pre-trial proceedings regarding an offence referred to in Article 150 (1) of the Criminal Code. A supervising prosecutor from the Sofia City Prosecution Office considered that evidence collected during the investigation shows that D. A., by using force, performed an act for the purpose of arousing or satisfying sexual desire, without copulation, with regard to a person who has completed 14 years of age in the village of Bistritsa (near Sofia) on May 7, 2023.

Article 150 (1) of the Criminal Code states that a person who performs an act for the purpose of arousing or satisfying sexual desire, without copulation, with regard to a person who has completed 14 years of age, by using force or threat, by taking advantage of the helpless condition of that person or by reducing the person to such condition or by taking advantage of a state of dependence or supervision, shall be punished by imprisonment from two to eight years.

As a member of Parliament, D. A. has political immunity. Article 220 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code states that no individual enjoying immunity shall be constituted as accused party. Criminal prosecution in respect of such individual on account of the same crime shall be instituted once he/she is divested of immunity, if no other bars thereto are present. Article 70 (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria states that a member of the National Assembly shall be immune from detention or criminal prosecution except for the perpetration of a criminal offence, and in such case the permission of the National Assembly or, in between its session, of the Chairperson of the National Assembly, shall be required.

Later on Wednesday, it was reported that D. A. is Daniel Aleksandrov, former wrestler of Bulgaria’s national team, who is currently a GERB MP. Aleksandrov won silver in the 82 kg weight class, Greco-Roman style, at the 2020 European Wrestling Championships in Rome. He also won two bronze medals at the European championships in Riga (2016) and Krasnoyarsk (2018), and a bronze medal at the Baku 2015 European Games.

Approached for comment, Aleksandrov told reporters that at the heart of all the discrediting reports is his divorce which has been going on for nearly two months and which he tried to keep secret. "Nothing of what has been written is true. I stand behind my name and I will prove that in court," said Aleksandrov. He did not tell reporters whether he would give up his immunity, but later in the day he wrote on Facebook that at this stage he will not give up his immunity until there is still a risk for GERB's work on the judicial reform. He was referring to a GERB position expressed last month when the Sofia City Prosecution Office requested that Parliament lift the immunity of another MP of GERB, Delyan Dobrev.

/RY/

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By 21:42 on 28.03.2024 Today`s news

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