Bulgaria Hears New Complaint of Police Violence

Out of the 11 arrested during the special police operation codenamed "the Sheikhs", three were released and eight remain behind bars. Photo by BGNES

A Bulgarian man has claimed that police officers have beaten and choked him during the special police operation codenamed “the Sheikhs”.

The operation was carried out last week in the area of the Bulgarian Black Sea city of Burgas and aimed at countering illegal fuel trade and theft. The police arrested 11, four of which were police officers.

On Wednesday, Nikolay Stoyanov, who is a former employee of the Border Police, claimed that during the police operation last week, he was stopped by a police patrol car. He has showed all his documents and the documents of his car.

When asked about possession of gun, Stoyanov confirmed and showed his permit as a former policeman.

In his words, in the meantime many nonuniform police officers dressed with black t-shirts and dark pants gathered around his car. When Stoyanov got out, one of them started to choke him and another, “very large man”, punched him a few times in the face.

When the alleged victim asked the police officers why were they attacking him, they answered that he looked aggressive, in his words.

Stoyanov has stated that he wrote down the name and the registration number of the car of the police officer who hit him. According to him, the man was Tsvetan Hambarliev from the military police force from Burgas.

The victim has stated that he submitted a complaint to the District Prosecutor's Office and has requested the dismissal of the attacker and the punishments for the other policemen.

Officials from the regional directorate of the Interior in Burgas have announced that they have not received any complaints and that if they do, they would check the facts and decide on potentioal punishment.

The directorate has also confirmed that they have an employer called Tsvetan Hambarliev.

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