Bulgaria Nationalists Urge Debate on Bringing Back Death Penalty

Valeri Simeonov, leader of the Patriotic Front, a nationalist coalition backing Bulgaria's minority government. Photo by BGNES

The nationalist coalition Patriotic Front (PF) will insist on a social debate on whether the capital punishment should be reintroduced, its co-leader Valeri Simeonov has said.

PF, which back the current Bulgarian government, has stressed the need for the country to overcome a looming "ethnic crisis" and tackle hundreds of cases of "robberies and beatings" on pensioners.

Simeonov told lawmakers during a debate in Parliament that "double standards" were in force in Bulgaria, with most media outlets raising panic about a van of the DPS party (which represents a vast part of Bulgaria's ethnic Turks) and turning a blind eye on constant infringements on citizens and their properties.

"To this end the Patriotic Front will insist on a public register of those 700 sentenced people who are roaming around Bulgaria," Simeonov added.

His comments (including ones that were insulting to minorities) sparked the outrage of the DPS, whose MPs left the plenary hall.

Simeonov's calls coincide with a recent petition of citizens in the city of Veliko Tarnovo, in north-central Bulgaria, which calls for the reintroduction of the death penalty following the brutal murder of a 23-year-old student.