site.btaCEC Approves Detention or Charging of MP Candidate

The Central Election Commission (CEC) voted, 13 in favour, to grant permission for the detention or indictment of a candidate for Parliament, CEC said here on Thursday. The decision comes after a request filed by the prosecution service earlier in the day.

Under Article 160(1) of the Election Code, during the period between the day of registration of the candidate lists and ending upon the declaration of the election results, "registered candidates may not be detained or constituted as accused parties except for the commission of a publicly prosecutable offence and on authorization by the Central Election Commission on the basis of a reasoned motion by the Prosecutor General".

CEC Deputy Chair and Spokesperson Rositsa Mateva announced that CEC received the request from Elena Karakasheva, deputy to the acting Prosecutor General. The request asks for authorization to charge and detain a candidate in the October 27 parliamentary elections, registered with the Constituency Election Commission in Shumen (Northeastern Bulgaria).

Mateva noted that the request included a proposal from a prosecutor at the Sofia Regional Prosecution Office, a letter from the Counter-corruption Commission drafted by an investigating inspector, a detention order dated October 2, a witness interrogation protocol dated October 3, a CEC decision of June 14 announcing the members of the 50th National Assembly, and an order by acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov appointing a deputy prosecutor general to perform his duties during Sarafov's business trip.

An MP candidate from the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms coalition was detained on October 2 and his residence was searched, BTA learned from his lawyer, Yordan Kirov.

Earlier on Thursday, acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov sent a note to National Assembly Chair Raya Nazaryan regarding the detention of Dzheyhan Ibryamov, MP of the 50th National Assembly, caught in the act of committing a serious crime, Parliament’s press centre said.

Ibryamov is the top-of-the-list candidate of the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms coalition in the 30th multi-member constituency in Shumen for the snap parliamentary elections on October 27.