Bulgarian Prosecution to Ask Stripping Tsvetanov of Immunity

Crime | May 14, 2013, Tuesday // 16:32|  views

Bulgarian Chief Prosecutor, Sotir Tsatsarov, file photo by BGNES

The Prosecutor's Office is going to ask for stripping the immunity of former Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, after the latter takes the oath of office as Member of the Parliament.

The above emerged Tuesday from the words of Chief Prosecutor, Sotir Tsatsarov, in answering a question from someone who introduced himself as a "protesting citizen."

Tsatsarov delivered a lecture at the University for National and World Economy.

"The prosecution has stated loud and clear it will ask the immunity of the person you are talking about (implying Tsvetanov – editor's note)," Tsatsarov said without mentioning the former Minister's name.

"We will do what we promised. However, don't expect from us to use the 2-3 days void to press charges. If the prosecution wants to do something serious, it must do it openly and with evidence it will present before the Parliament, not use such void. The opposite will be an unfair game," the Chief Prosecutor stressed.

With the above, he rejected the possibility to press charges against Tsvetanov before he is sworn as MP. According to experts, Tsvetanov does not have immunity in the days between the announcing of the official results from the May 12 early general elections and the oath of office of the 42nd General Assembly.

The Bulgarian Watergate scandal unfurled at the end of March when Sergey Stanishev, leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), submitted a tipoff to Tsatsarov, about alleged illegal wiretapping of politicians, businesspeople and magistrates which had taken place during the rule of Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov's center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria GERB party (2009-2013).

Bulgaria's former Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov, who was currently GERB's election campaign manager, faces charges of failing to exercise proper control over the use of special surveillance devices during his term in office.

Borisov was also questionned by the prosecution.

However, Tsvetanov could not be charged because he was immune to prosecution as a candidate MP in the snap elections.

Three out of the four senior policemen, who were charged in the scandal with unauthorized spying, told the investigators they acted on Tsvetanov's verbal orders.

The admission made the latter the main instigator of the illegal wiretapping.

The cases against three former directors of the Specialized Directorate Technical Operations of the Interior Ministry (SDOTO), Sergey Katsarov, Kamen Kostov and Tsvetan Ivanov, and one Kostov's subordinate - Radko Dimitrov - are now frozen temporarily until the issue with the former Interior Minister's immunity is resolved.

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Tags: wiretapping, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Boyko Borisov, Nikolay Kokinov, special surveillance devices, GERB, Sergey Stanishev, Sotir Tsatsarov, Chief Prosecutor, security, guards, Chief Secretary of the Interior Ministry, Kalin Georgiev, Rosen Plevneliev, special surveillance devices, wiretapping, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Boyko Borisov, GERB, corruption, prosecution, Miroslav Naydenov, Agriculture Minister, police, intelligence, Watergate, special surveillance devices, SRS, Boyko Borisov, phone, conversations, Prosecutor's Office, SDOTO

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