site.btaProsecution Service Opposes Expulsion of Delyan Peevski and Aides from MRF

At a hearing of the Sofia City Court on Friday, it transpired that the prosecution service is opposed to changes in the case file of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) adopted by one of the two warring factions of the party against the other in late August. The position of the prosecution service was made public by prosecutor Radoslav Stoev in the court room. 

The changes were adopted by the MRF Central Operative Bureau and included expulsion of Delyan Peevski, now the leader of MRF-New Beginning and MRF ranking members Halil Letifov, Iskra Mihaylova-Koparova, Jordan Tzonev, Hamid Hamid, Stanislav Anastassov, Radoslav Revanski and Erten Anisova.

The prosecutor argued that the said decisions violated some provisions of the MRF Statute and the Political Parties Act. Also, the expellees had not been duly informed and there was a violation of the quorum requirements. What is more, the Central Operative Bureau is not competent to make such decisions: they are within the competence of the party's Central Council. 

MRF's legal counsel Maya Gospodinova said that notices about the Bureau's meeting were posted on two floors of the party headquarters and outside an office used by Delyan Peevski.

The rift in MRF amid what appears to be a battle over the control of the party between Delyan Peevski, one of the two official leaders (the other being Dzhevdet Charakov), and founder and Honorary Chair Ahmed Dogan has left to having two MRF spinoffs in the new Parliament: one is the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms (of Ahmed Dogan and Dzhevdet Chakarov) and MRF-New Beginning of Delyan Peevski. The battle between the two factions over the party, however, continues.

The court is expected to make a decision within two weeks.