site.btaCC-DB to Move for Hearing of PM, Interior Ministry on Reasons for Borissov's Beefed-Up Security

The Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) Parliamentary Group will enter a motion in Parliament for a hearing of caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev and Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov on the reasons for the heightened level of security protection provided to GERB Chairman Boyko Borissov, Democratic Bulgaria Co-chair Atanas Atanassov told journalists here on Monday.

"A cabinet-forming procedure is in progress now. GERB is to receive the first cabinet-forming mandate and, at the same time, pictures of sharpshooters perched on Mr Borissov's fence in Bankya appear in the public domain. This is definitely a cause for concern," Atanassov commented. "Does anybody want to interfere with this process by impacting the security of the leader of the party that holds the cabinet-forming mandate?" he asked.

Atanassov was referring to a Facebook post last week by investigative journalist Dimitar Stoyanov of www.bird.bg, which contained photographs of armed personnel patrolling around Borissov's house in Sofia's suburb of Bankya. "They are rumoured to be members of SOBT [the Interior Ministry's Specialized Counter Terrorism Unit]. The question is whom they are guarding Borissov from: [Movement for Rights and Freedoms chair Delyan] Peevski? Sreten? Anybody else?" Stoyanov wrote.

In 2002, when Borissov was Secretary General of the Interior Ministry, Serbian drug lord Sreten Jocic was apprehended in Bulgaria and was extradited to the Netherlands. In 2003 and 2004, Serbia tipped off Bulgaria about threats to Borissov's life tied to Jocic.

Atanassov said he did not have any further information but the only thing he had ascertained was that the pictures were real. In his words, they were taken last week. "By the way, certain people who are not just any people in Bulgaria, who have held senior state positions, are handling this matter," he added without naming names.

Earlier on Monday, at the beginning of his parliamentary group's consultations with President Rumen Radev, Atanassov asked the head of State about pictures of sharpshooters posted in Borissov's yard. "If there is a high level of threat to the mandate holder on the eve of the formation of a government, this is an exceedingly grave concern for the State. If you have any information, it must be shared with the public," he urged the President.

"In principle, I have information when a greater risk is posed in the security environment," Radev answered. "But I think that specific details, especially when a threat to a natural person is concerned, should not become public. This is my principle but, yes, I will speak to the security services and request the relevant information you mentioned."