Bulgaria’s President refused to release the Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

President Rumen Radev refuses to issue a decree to dismiss the Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Petar Todorov, as requested by the government. This became known from a position issued by the press service of the head of state. It states that he believes that the release of the chief secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at this moment will only serve interests other than the public.

"The motives for the proposal to remove Chief Commissioner Petar Todorov from the position of Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are entirely political and are a continuation of the full-scale purge in this institution. The arguments given for the lack of organization and control over the activities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are in sharp contradiction with the activity reports of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for 2022 and the first half of 2023 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs itself. In its own reports, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reports better results in terms of both registered and detected crimes. However, the request for the removal of the Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs completely overlaps with the recordings of the party meeting of 'We Continue the Change' from May of this year, in which the dismissals in the security system are motivated by the goal" 'the local elections will be with our Ministry of Internal Affairs'", the presidency indicates.

The Chief Secretary was appointed by the President on August 5, 2021, on the proposal of the cabinet with Prime Minister Stefan Yanev, in which Boyko Rashkov was the Minister of the Interior. Todorov's removal was requested last Friday by Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov, following a consultation on the increasing number of serious crimes, including the shooting of Alexei Petrov.

On Wednesday (August 23), Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov stated that the Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is responsible for the lack of organization and control over activities in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is directly related to the death of six employees while performing their official duties. He added that he hoped Radev would accept the arguments. At the briefing in the Council of Ministers, Stoyanov added that in the period from 2021 to May 31, 2023, as a result of insufficient control and adequate actions by the Chief Secretary, a significant increase in crimes against the person, both intentional and unintentional murders, was observed with particular cruelty, carried out during domestic scandals or during domestic violence against women.

Todorov and his deputy, Stanimir Stanev, resigned on November 22, 2022, following another incident in which a police officer was seriously injured and later died while trying to detain migrants. However, President Rumen Radev did not accept it.

Today, the presidency states that citizens and the media can request and familiarize themselves with the reports on the activity of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for 2022 and the first half of 2023, in which "the professional activity of the institution is evaluated on the basis of specific data and statistics indicators".

"Thus, they will be able to assess for themselves what is the real reason for the request to remove the chief secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs," the position also reads.

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