site.btaUPDATED Politicians React to Alexey Petrov’s Assassination

As BTA reported earlier, businessman Alexey Petrov has been shot dead at 12:20 pm in Sofia's Dragalevtsi suburb on Wednesday, the Interior Ministry said.

Following are the reactions to Petrov's assassination of Bulgarian political figures.

Continue the Change co-leader Kiril Petkov: "It is unacceptable that in 2023 there will be blatant assassinations in Bulgaria. Nor is it acceptable for foreign security services to find Bulgarians spying for Russia in the UK, while we learn it once again from the media. Nor should we sit idly by and listen to yet another horrific murder chronicles. This is why we need urgent security sector reform. The [security] services need to start working effectively [...] We will work with the government to deliver real and prompt results".

Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov: "We are witnessing the return of the mobster years and rampant crime in Bulgaria. It is an open secret that Petrov was linked to the CC-DB [referring to the Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria coalition], and his links with the person known as "Papa Petko" laid behind attempts of appointing particular persons in the Interior Ministry and the [security] services". When thugs like the current rulers of the CC-DB-MRF-GERB criminal coalition take power, assassinations are inevitable. Of course, I must recall the strange coincidence between the arrival of the new US Ambassador and the sudden assassinations of prominent criminal figures like "Karo" [Krasimir Kamenov] and now Petrov".

Former Prosecutor General and Justice for Bulgaria Movement leader Ivan Geshev: "This disgusting act of violence once again shows the powerlessness of Bulgarian politicians to deal with the lawlessness and rampant crime in the country. The Interior Ministry, the judiciary, and in particular the prosecuting magistracy, have been consistently ruined in recent years. I have repeatedly said that we are returning to the mobster days. From its first days in power, the newly formed NON-coalition has led us even more steadily back to the 1990s. Today, as then, Bulgarian citizens cannot be sure of their future, and even of their lives. This criminal act came quite logically after the assassination attempt against the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Bulgaria only three months ago. Back then, the leading politicians of the current "assembly" scorned and laughed at it. No one paid attention to the crumbling statehood. We have been turned into a third world banana republic".

There Is Such A People leader Slavi Trifonov: "The murder of Alexey Petrov was foreknown. There were two assassination attempts against him. In 2002, he was hit in the chest and in the leg, but he lived. And in 2015, he was fired at with a grenade launcher. I mean, what happened today was not unexpected. But it clearly showed that the state and the [security] services are weak and castrated. And they are in no condition to either predict or prevent such a blatant shooting".

Bulgarian Socialist Party leader Korneliya Ninova: "The return of the mobster model of [Boyko] Borissov's rule brought back the mobster years. The whole country became hostage to his fear of retribution and CC-DB's greed for power and money. The backroom deals, deals for spheres of influence, lack of justice lead to this result: mob murders in broad daylight. Justice reform? Schengen? Everything they touch is a disaster. These are taking us further away from Europe every day. Even worse, they are dismantling the state, taking over institutions to use them for themselves and against the ones who are inconvenient. And worst of all, no Bulgarian citizen is protected. The majority with supposedly Euro-Atlantic values has turned into an assembly that is dangerous for the people and harmful for Bulgaria".