site.btaVazrazhdane Floor Leader Says Prosecution Service Wiretaps All Party Members: "They Cannot Put Us All in Jail"

The prosecution service has requested and begun wiretapping the whole Vazrazhdane parliamentary group, its Floor Leader Kostadin Kostadinov declared on Wednesday. "They cannot put us all in jail," he argued. 

He explained that the formal reason for the prosecution service's actions was that during the February 22 protest a 57-year-old man from Tervel (Northeast Bulgaria) had committed a crime against the Republic and burned the European Union (EU) flag. "This, according to [acting Prosecutor General Borislav] Sarafov, is a crime against the Republic. The EU is not a state, it is not a republic," Kostadinov said.  

According to Bulgarian Penal Code's Art. 108, Para. 2. "a person who in any way defames the coat of arms, the flag or the anthem of the Republic of Bulgaria, or the flag or the anthem of the European Union, shall be punished by imprisonment for up to two years or by a fine of up to BGN 3,000".

"A special operation is currently being carried out against Vazrazhdane's parliamentary group. Attempts are being made to crack passwords in order to access communication channels. More than 2,500 of our members, active sympathizers, have been carded and are being summoned to the police periodically," Kostadinov said. 

"As of yesterday, Bulgaria got its political prisoners - people who are permanently imprisoned for their political actions - and since this is a declaration in defense of freedom, I ask everyone from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) - New Beginning to leave the hall," the Vazrazhdane Floor Leader said at the beginning of the declaration.

"Yesterday the corrupt Sofia City Court left four innocent people in jail," Kostadinov commented on the court's Tuesday decision to keep four of those arrested for hooliganism in front of the Representation of the European Commission in Bulgaria in Sofia in custody.  

"'Coward, why do you request lifting the MP immunities of people from Vazrazhdane, ask for my immunity, I am Vazrazhdane's Floor Leader," Kostadinov turned to Sarafov.

The statement ended with a call for "freedom for political prisoners, prison for [GERB-UDF Floor Leader Boyko] Borissov, [MRF - New Beginning Floor Leader Delyan] Peevski, Sarafov." 

GERB-UDF Deputy Floor Leader Denitsa Satcheva asked the National Assembly Chair not to allow such hate speech to continue in Parliament. "This defence of positions - through insults, the use of innuendos and epithets and everything else that you have allowed to happen in the framework of a declaration - if someone cannot defend his positions using good manners, then he is an extremely weak person," Satcheva said. 

Later in the day, Kostadinov said that the party will not give "more hostages to the thugs" and that the parliamentary group's MPs will not give up their immunities. "Moreover, Sarafov himself is a rather controversial prosecutor general in terms of his legitimacy," he added.

The Vazrazhdane Floor Leader said he expects the parliament majority to vote together with Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria to lift the immunity of the Vazrazhdane MPs.