Continue the Change (CC) Chairman Assen Vassilev, former prime minister and former CC co-leader Kiril Petkov and MP Lena Borislavova on Monday appeared voluntarily at the Anti-Corruption Commission to give statements in all cases in which their names are mentioned. They were not questioned.
Kiril Petkov has been charged with exceeding his authority as prime minister by ordering the arrest of his predecessor Boyko Borissov on March 17, 2022. In addition, Petkov was indicted on October 1 for attempted coercion of former electronic governance minister Alexander Yolovski. Assen Vassilev's name cropped up in a public procurement scandal in testimony given by a former Customs Agency director; Vassilev has denied the allegations about his tenure as finance minister. Lena Borislavova was indicted for knowingly producing documents with forged signatures on May 13-14, 2021.
"We came here to tell the truth. It must be known - political prisoners must be released," said Kiril Petkov, adding that four people have been held in custody for three months now without being called as witnesses.
Upon leaving the Anti-Corruption Commission, Assen Vassilev said there had been no progress on their request for questioning. "They said they had more important things to do than questioning us and that it was no problem for the mayor of Varna to remain in custody," he added.
Vassilev was referring to Mayor Blagomir Kotsev, who was arrested on July 7 under a police order tied to an investigation by the Counter-Corruption Commission and Sofia City Prosecution Office, based on a tipoff from a failed public procurement tenderer. The other three persons in custody cited by Petkov are municipal councillors Nikolay Stefanov and Yordan Kateliev, who were arrested in Varna along with Kotsev, and former Sofia deputy mayor Nikola Barbutov, who was charged with bribery in late June.
The Continue the Change representatives were met by activists from MRF-New Beginning. "We want the Anti-Corruption Commission closed because it acts as a bludgeon of the Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria coalition," Belitsa Mayor Radoslav Revanski told reporters.