Blagomir Kotsev, the opposition mayor of Varna, will stay in custody on corruption prices, and out of concern that he would possibly in any other case commit extra wrongdoings, the Sofia Courtroom of Appeals determined late on Tuesday.
The measure means he’ll possible keep behind bars for eight months, or till the Prosecution information an indictment in opposition to him kickstarting a trial. Protests in assist of Kotsev in Varna and Sofia will likely be organised on Wednesday, condemning the ruling as politically motivated.
Valérie Hayer MEP, chair of the liberal and centrist Renew Europe group within the European Parliament, in a letter to the European Fee, has described the case as “institutional perversion” and as “not an anti-corruption success story however exactly its antithesis”, calling on Brussels to halt EU grants to Bulgaria below its Restoration and Resilience Facility.
Kotsev was arrested on July 8 by anti-corruption police forces after an proprietor of a food-catering firm, which had labored with the municipality below the earlier GERB-linked mayor, claimed he had demanded a bribe within the autumn of 2024 to greenlight additional collaboration. [At the time of this alleged meeting, there were no active tenders.]
The court docket order has been condemned as repressive, given the mayor’s affiliation with We Proceed the Change, the principle opposition celebration to GERB, which is now a part of the ruling coalition. GERB would probably profit from regaining management of Bulgaria’s third largest metropolis, host to its largest seaport complicated and a serious vacationer location.
Quite a few particulars have remained imprecise, contradictory and complicated: audio snippets have been leaked, witnesses have backtracked on testimonies, and a case for corruption is unfolding, despite the fact that the proof to date incorporates no point out of precise sums altering palms or transfers of cash.
“Not one of the folks questioned have pointed to any hint of Kotsev being linked to organised crime or corruption,” defence lawyer Ina Lulcheva mentioned on Tuesday, including that, at present, the case doesn’t even point out the mayor asking for a bribe, however solely claims he was conscious that one was sought by the meals firm proprietor. She additionally famous that lots of the witnesses’ experiences sounded suspiciously equivalent.
Kotsev reaffirms that he’s harmless, says he by no means even met the corporate proprietor, and was provided a bribe by a 3rd celebration, quite than demanded one. In court docket on Tuesday, he mentioned additionally he felt he had “already been sentenced”.
One of many witnesses, former deputy mayor Dian Ivanov, has in the meantime mentioned he gave testimonies below strain from the police and, in current interviews, has claimed that particulars of those testimonies have been circulating within the media even earlier than he was questioned. On July 16, Ivanov requested the Prosecution to not take his statements into consideration; no response adopted.
On September 18, GERB chief and former PM Boyko Borissov refused to debate the case, telling native media: “If anyone provides me a Blagomir Kotsev T-shirt, I’ll put it on and get you to {photograph} me with it, simply so you may all cease asking me about him.”
The allegations in opposition to the mayor have triggered nationwide protests, with many seeing the arrest as a doable signal of an alliance between GERB and the tycoon “New Starting” chief Delyan Peevski to crush the opposition.
Kotsev was born in Varna in 1979. He graduated in Commerce from the American College of Washington and in Finance from the College of London earlier than returning to work in his household’s delivery enterprise and an area lodge and restaurant.
Earlier than being elected mayor, as regional governor, he gained constructive experiences for welcoming Ukrainian refugees in Varna and surrounding resorts following the outbreak of full-scale conflict with Russia.
In 2023, he got here to workplace after unexpectedly beating GERB’s Ivan Portnih, who was mayor for the earlier ten years. Portnih had been related to numerous controversies, together with being charged by the European Prosecution for air pollution within the space.
The identical yr, GERB additionally misplaced management over the capital Sofia when, in the identical mayoral elections, We Proceed the Change received with Vassil Terziev, one other entrepreneur who made the swap to politics.
