Bulgarian Prosecution Knew about Released Video Tape with Police Brutality

The prosecutor's office has taken the case of police violence under the columns of the Council of Ministers under special supervision, Nova TV reports.

The pre-trial proceedings were initiated last year, but there is no evidence that any of the police officers identified as participants have been prosecuted.

The prosecutor's office was also acquainted with the recordings from the cameras of the Council of Ministers, Sega website reports.

Yesterday, the spokesperson of the Prosecutor General, Siyka Mileva told the media that she was on leave and did not watch the footage and would comment on Monday.

Andon Andonov, who at the time of the incident was head of a department at the Specialized Police Forces for Protection and Restoration of Public Order at the Interior Ministry, challenged his disciplinary sanction imposed in August 2020 - a ban on promotion for two years.

The disciplinary inspection established that Andonov had given instructions for taking the protesters out and leading them under the columns of the Council of Ministers, as well as that he personally had taken part in the violence over them when they were already handcuffed.

Exactly during the disciplinary inspection, an examination of 2 video files with the extension mp4 was made, which contain videos taken from the upper angle from one camera, video images without sound with indications for the date 07-10-2020 Fri and time from 22:30:08 until 23:30:58 hours in them.

The cameras are located on the facade of the building of the Council of Ministers, the court decision reads. All this coincides with the recordings screened in parliament on Friday.

The experts, who worked on the disciplinary inspection in the Ministry of Interior, reviewed the records and found that they "observed actions of detention of 7 civilians - six men and one woman. Against three persons was applied physical force and were beaten with baton.

The experts came to the conclusion that the police officers could be recognized by the footage. The recognition of some of them is made by the Deputy Head of the Department "Specialized Police Forces for Protection and Restoration of Public Order". In the court decision they are indicated only with initials of their names.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!