site.btaNearly 50 Pretrial Proceedings Launched over Vote Buying - Interior Minister

Nearly 50 pretrial proceedings have been launched over crimes against citizens' political rights, caretaker Interior Minister Atanas Ilkov told media on Friday. Close to 140 alerts have been received, over 100 checks have been conducted and nearly one-fourth of them have been terminated, he specified. There was data for a crime in 14 of the alerts received.

A total of 23 people have been arrested thus far and 471 warning protocols have been issued. Thus far, there have been more than 100 operations of the Interior Ministry. Such an operation was conducted in five regions on Friday, Ilkov noted.

The alerts about schemes for vote buying in exchange for firewood are dropping in number. Some alerts mention a price of up to BGN 500 per vote, but that information has not been confirmed.

Commenting on an alert listing over 200 persons as involved in vote buying and selling, Ilkov said checks are underway for some of these individuals. Some names were listed without any specific information being provided in the alert, he commented.

"There should not bе any doubt regarding a single alert, because at any time we can present information about every alert and the actions taken based on it," Ilkov told the media. "If someone thinks that a certain employee can put the alert at the bottom of their drawer and not check it, that someone is mistaken," the Interior Minister added. Every action is coordinated with the prosecution service and the State Agency for National Security. In his words, their efforts are directed at identifying new individuals involved in vote buying, because the information about such persons from previous elections is no longer quite up to date.