site.btaMRF Parliamentary Group Expellees Ask PM, Chief Prosecutor to End "Intimidation" via State Institutions

At a news conference here Friday, members of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) who have been expelled from the MRF parliamentary group amid a rift in the party, requested an urgent meeting with the Prime Minister and the Prosecutor General to end "State institutions being used for intimidation, retribution, and hindrance of freedom of expression", to use the words of MRF co-chair Dzhevdet Chakarov. "We ask that public institutions be not used to threaten, retaliate, or stop people from speaking freely," Chakarov said.

He read a statement from MRF parliamentary group expellees (excluding Peevski and his aides) regarding large-scale inspections by the Ministry of the Interior's General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime, the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Public Financial Inspection Agency, and the National Revenue Agency. These inspections focused on people, their families, and businesses linked to MRF, and municipalities run by MRF mayors.

Chakarov urged public institutions and officials to resist threats and pressure. "These institutions are becoming a political tool for retribution and repression," Chakarov said. "We will protect every one of our members, supporters, and activists," he added.

For over a month now, Peevski and Dogan have been fighting a war over the control of the party. First, Peevski started removing Dogan's supporters from the parliamentary group and from senior positions across the country. Then Dogan, until recently the unchallenged patriarch of MRF, asked Peevski to step down as MRF co-chair, but Peevski refused to comply. The MRF group in Parliament is now split into two with the Dogan camp outnumbering the Peevski camp by a little. Among the MRF electorate, Dogan is the absolute favourite, according to recent poll.