Bulgarian Town Hall Raided by Police

Police have launched a special police operation in a Town Hall building in western Bulgaria, file photo

Police units have raided and blockaded the Town Hall building in Kocherinovo in western Bulgaria early Thursday.

The special operation is conducted on the order of the District Prosecutor in the city of Kyustendil.

Mayor Ivan Minkov is in his office with police carrying out investigative procedures. Currently, citizens' access to the municipality is banned. Only the counter on the ground floor, where they pay local taxes, is open.

Employees are at work, but the police did not allow anyone on the second floor, where Minkov's office is located.

According to unofficial information, the mayor, who was endorsed by the formerly-ruling and no opposition centrist Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party (GERB), is being investigated for municipal projects with EU funding that have been launched during the term of his predecessor Kostadin Katin.

Katin was removed from office in 2011 after a similar police operation. Also in 2011, several cases were filed against him, one for a project for a local landfill for solid waste, which was never launched.

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