Bulgarian PM Vows Severe Sanctions in Police Brutality Case

Bulgarian Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, says media has no right to ask him questions about organized crime because their publications often turn arrested criminals into national heroes. Photo by BGNES

The officers implicated in police brutality during the arrest of the ex Secretary of the Finance Ministry, Tencho Popov, will be sanctioned.

The promise was made Friday by Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, before the media, saying the punishment is going to be harsh and might even lead to dismissals.

Borisov stated the he had nothing to do, personally, with Popov's arrest, but the way it had been done is emblematic for how investigations take place and for this reason his Deputy and Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, will impose sanctions.

"I told Tsvetanov that this is damaging for his image and asked him to go ahead and fire them," the PM said.

Despite the promise he would not allow this case of police brutality to become the norm, Borisov blamed the media of turning most detainees into national heroes.

The statement comes 2 days after a video of police brutality during Popov's arrest was shown at the Sofia City Court.

Tsvetanov also vowed punishment for the guilty upon conclusion of the special probe in the incident, but pointed out a corruption crime had been committed in the former Finance Ministry Secretary's office just minutes before the arrival of the police.

"I want to thank Mr. Popov's defense counsel for providing this tape for the Court, and hope they will give us the full recording so that we can conduct our probe. Of course, police violence is unacceptable, but the tape shows an attempt to resist arrest," the Minister stressed all while declining to answer a reporter's question why the police officers failed to show their badges thus leaving those inside the office in the dark as to what was going on.

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