Good Cop, Bad Cop and Bulgarian Police Brutality

Editorial |Author: Maria Guineva | July 30, 2010, Friday // 14:45|  views

Last Friday night, four plainclothes policemen entered a house in Bulgaria’s southern city of Kardzhali in an attempt to counter an alleged pimp.

Two days later, media reports began pouring in, informing the family inside was thrashed by mistake, and the 20-year-old daughter suffered serious injuries.

Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, apologized publicly to all Bulgarian citizens who were targeted by mistake over the weekend as part of a special police operation against prostitution rings. He promised to offer regrets in person to the Kardzhali victims, saying disciplinary action against those responsible are looming. Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, declared he was ashamed, had ordered a probe, wants harsh punishments and vowed to crack down on any abuse of police power.

On the request of the Parliamentary opposition, however, Tsvetanov agreed to appear before the Members of the Parliament to give explanations on the incident. Meanwhile, the story fueled to the extreme the already heated debate about the more and more frequent cases of police brutality and attacks on innocent people.

“There were two individuals – the mother and one relative, who was visiting from Turkey. Actually, there wasn’t any problem with them, because they were visible and did not resist the authorities. But when the police officers went towards the children’s bedroom, they noticed the silhouette of a woman, and decided the prostitutes might be inside. So, they entered the room in a way slightly faster than usual so that they can prevent similar activities. This is how the girl got hit by the door,” Tsvetanov told the MPs, making all wonder if the Minister, himself, understands his own explanation.

To summarize the story better, based on currently available information: on May 18 the police in Kardzhali received a tip that a cab driver, Dzhem Mustafa, is involved in prostitution rings. Mustafa has a previous conviction for pimping and a jail sentence, so the police decided to follow up. In the evening of July 23, through special surveillance devices, they established that Karim Mustafov, the son of the family in question, ordered for his friends two prostitutes from Mustafa. The police followed the girls' automobile to Mustafov’s address, but lost them after the women left the car. The plainclothes officers then went up to Mustafov’s apartment, identified themselves and the father, Sabahatin Mustafov, let them in. He did not resist anything, but was handcuffed as the standard procedure requires, according to Tsvetanov. What followed is the “silhouette and door” story.

Mustafovi, who are ethnic Turks, threaten to sue and claim full innocence. Karim denies ever seeking prostitutes, insisting he simply called a taxi cab. He also disproves information, coming from Tsvetanov, that he is the youth leader of the ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) in Kardzhali, but confirms he is involved with the party. To make the story even more dramatic and confusing, it emerged that the father, Sabahatin, is a former police officer, who was suspended from duties in 1991 after trying to sell on the black market his police-issued gun.

When asked by the MPs if the police had a “prosecutor’s warrant” to enter the house Tsvetanov replied: “the Prosecutor has been notified.” He also says Karim made confessions at first, but later refused to sign the written ones.

It must be noted here that ordering a prostitute and prostitution have never been legally criminalized; only acting as a pimp is considered a crime in Bulgaria.

As far as the so-called search and confiscation, the law says that:

1) In pre-trial proceedings they are done with a warrant issued by a judge from the respective local and lowest court. The warrant must be requested by a prosecutor;

2) When there is an emergency, the search and confiscation can be carried out without a warrant, but the police must prepare a protocol to be presented by the prosecutor to the judge immediately and no later than 24 hours after the operation;

3) During the actual trial, search and confiscation can be done only with a warrant issued by the court in charge of the case.

The law also postulates that when the matter is not urgent, search and confiscation must be executed during daylight hours while entering someone’s private property and remaining inside without the consent of the owner and/or without a court warrant is allowed only when there is the need to prevent imminent crime or a crime that has already started in order to apprehend the perpetrator or in case of an extreme emergency.

This story of vanishing prostitutes, political and ethnic intrigue, sold passports and guns, the ex conman turned cab driver and pimp, and four policemen entering a room in a “too fast way” could be funny if it did not bring to the spotlight the same old issues that mercilessly and endlessly continue to haunt the Bulgarian society:

Tsvetanov’s failure to satisfactorily explain what was the imminent crime or the crime that has already started or the extreme emergency and who the apprehended perpetrator is.

The Interior Minister first apologized than turned around to become the “bad cop” standing up for “his men.” Of course, mistakes do happen. But normal procedure, in a normal country, involves a probe, punishment of those responsible (police officers or criminals), apology and compensation if there had been a police mistake. With his explanation, so deprived of logic and clarity, Tsvetanov simply demonstrated once again that to him police violence against someone who is just a suspect and the “innocent until proven guilty” postulate are not a big deal.

Incompetence continues to be the norm in police work in Bulgaria - four officers go to an apartment around midnight because a boy ordered prostitutes (not a crime) and strike his sister on the head. Prostitutes were not located inside the apartment and no one knows where they went. If the police officers did their job properly and there is enough evidence – the case will go to court and criminals will get punished. End of story.

Prostitution is blossoming in Bulgaria because the law has not been amended since the times of Communism and it is very hard to press charges related to prostitution. Prostitutes abound in cities and towns, in plain view. They can also be seen in great numbers alongside the country’s main roads, often in the vicinity of traffic police patrol cars.

Who is advising this family? If they were not close to the ethnic Turkish party and, per Tsvetanov’s words, to the DPS MP, Remzi Osman, would this story leak to the press so quickly and would the parliamentary opposition so fervently ask for explanations? After all, this is not the first incident when police brutalized the wrong target, some well known people among them, such as singer and former Bulgarian Eurovision representative, Krasimir Avramov, or the high-ranking employee of the French Societe Generale bank whose house was raided because it was mistaken with the address of an alleged ringleader…

Worrisome is also the fact that a NATO and EU Minister thinks it is important to note the family are ethnic Turks, close to an opposition party, turning the case both ethnic and political, fueling hate and firing internet forums with postings there is nothing wrong if some Turks get some blows and punches.

The obvious incompetence of the opposition MPs, many of whom with law degrees, who failed to ask Tsvetanov the right legal questions. For example, pondering time and time again if the police had a permit from the prosecutor, and never correctly inquiring if they obtained a court warrant.

The “good cop” (Borisov), who, as usual, spoke faster than thinking, and now has nothing else to say.

At the end, as many times before, the public will never learn the truth and the case will be soon forgotten. Bad police work and the endless attempts in Bulgaria to use everything and everyone for political gains make this just the latest hearsay saga – the words of the police officers against those of the family.

At least Bulgarians now know they must open doors inside their houses very cautiously at nighttime, otherwise they might get hit on the face.

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Tags: police brutality, Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Kardzhali, special operation, police violence, pimp

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