Prosecutors in Burgas have charged the mayors of Belitsa and Sungurlare and the Burgas regional head of the DPS party with taking part in a criminal plot to trade influence. Prime minister Rumen Radev said on Thursday, 22 October, that this is only the start.
On Wednesday, DPS leader Delyan Peevski told reporters in parliament that Radev personally orders the police raids, including the one in Sungurlare. On Thursday the party said it would turn to EU institutions and all justice bodies over what happened to the mayors of Sungurlare, Belitsa and Kardzhali.
See also: DPS to alert European institutions over detention of three of its mayors
The charges name Radoslav Revanski, mayor of Belitsa, Dimitar Gavazov, mayor of Sungurlare, and Hristo Shirokov, DPS regional head in Burgas. Prosecutors say the plot ran between 2024 and 2026.
Radev spoke after a meeting of the executive council of Progressive Bulgaria, which he leads. "All I know is that there are witness statements, there are statements from everyone involved, and they lead far beyond Sungurlare. That is why I said this is the beginning," the prime minister said.
He did not comment on what the interior ministry did. Law enforcement bodies must decide whether the inquiry reaches serving politicians.
Radev rejected claims that the government uses state bodies to pressure DPS mayors. He said that in recent days they have acted firmly only against people who face reports and evidence of corruption, whatever their party. The prime minister expects the interior ministry and the services to keep going this way, but to avoid steps that could be used for political ends in the election campaign.
Radev also rejected the comparison with a "new revival process", the name for the forced assimilation of ethnic Turks in the 1980s. He said the actions target corruption, not people of any ethnic group. He also believes the "patchwork" coalition is alive, and that its leaders, though in opposition, get in the way of the fight against oligarchy.
In the presidential election, Progressive Bulgaria will back the pair of Iliana Yotova and Kiril Valchev, the prime minister confirmed.
That same morning, at about 9.00am, police led Kardzhali mayor and DPS deputy leader Erol Myumyun out of the town hall. A search warrant was then issued for his home, and his questioning at the Kardzhali police station lasted more than two hours.
Kardzhali police said the mayor was not arrested but was brought in by force to give evidence in case files, because he had not come in voluntarily for a long time.
His supporters, including MPs and mayors, came to the police building. Myumyun is the latest DPS mayor questioned by the interior ministry, and the raids have already led to protests by supporters of the movement.
Myumyun said the cause is a complaint filed in early September by a former head of the Kardzhali ceremonial hall, who says she was pressed to quit her job. He says she was sacked for disciplinary reasons two years ago and lost her case in two courts. A month ago, police detained Kardzhali's deputy mayor and the municipality's secretary over the same complaint.
"The interior ministry must look after the safety of the people and public order, not be a club for political repression and political pressure," Myumyun told BNT. He accused the ruling parties of political pressure and said he sees a steady trend that reminds him of a totalitarian regime. The mayor said he is going back to work and will keep serving the people. He said he is not hiding and "we are not criminals".
The DPS group in parliament called for the dismissal of Kardzhali regional police chief Shtero Milchev. The group says the police acted illegally. Ayten Sabri, deputy speaker of parliament and deputy head of the group, asked what is happening in Bulgaria and whether this is the rule of law the government spoke about. MP Bayram Bayram said this can happen to any citizen and that the DPS will defend the rights of all Bulgarian citizens.
The DPS accused the government of ordering the raids on the party's mayors to scare them. Peevski called the actions of the Radev cabinet repression of people from the movement.
Radev also commented on the European Parliament resolution on security in the Black Sea, which criticises the Bulgarian authorities over military incidents in the region. He said Bulgarian MEPs with limited legitimacy at home are using it for domestic political aims before the presidential election, and he called that unworthy. Their names are known and will be made public, Radev said.
More than 400 MEPs backed the resolution. The prime minister believes these votes come from the political families of the Bulgarian MEPs, who misled their colleagues. He called part of the text "inadmissible ignorance and manipulation".
It is inadmissible for the European Parliament to set a deadline for sovereign Bulgaria to join the NATO anti-drone initiative announced in February 2025, Radev said. He said the defence minister has made clear when the country will join, and that previous governments did not do what was needed to join.