Bulgaria Interior Head Denies Violence in Ex Minister Arrest

Bulgaria's Interior Minister Tsvetanov (middle) denied claims the police handled rough ex Defense Minister Tsonev. Photo by BGNES

There has been no police violence against during the detention of former Defense Minister Nikolay Tsonev, according to Bulgaria’s Interior Minister Tsvetanov.

Speaking on the bTV channel on Sunday, Tsvetanov explained that despite the protests by Tsonev’s lawyers, the policemen used no more force against him than was necessary.

Tsonev and two other men, including an acting Sofia judge, were busted on Thursday over information that they tried to bribe an investigator.

“It all depends on the specific police operation,” Tsvetanov said pointing out that the other two former Ministers who are facing charges, Emiliya Maslarova and Valeri Tsvetanov, as well as the outgoing Health Minister Bozhidar Nanev, did not have to be detained in special operations, unlike Tsonev.

The Interior Minister further stated that the despite the failed attempt to impeach President Parvanov, the ruling party GERB and its government, backed by its rightist partners, was not losing focus of its goals.

He expressed his satisfaction with certain achievements of the police such as the destruction of the high-profile kidnappers’ gang known as the Impudent, saying that no one had been kidnapped in Bulgaria for ransom after the gang was busted in December 2009.

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