Bulgaria's parliament failed to hold an emergency session today, 13 October, on pardoning drug trafficker Ognyan Atanasov, known as the "Petrich Escobar", because it did not have a quorum. Parliament speaker Mihaela Dotsova announced this after a second attempt to open the sitting.

Dotsova called the session at the request of MPs. Last week, We Continue the Change said it had collected the signatures needed.

At the first roll call, 87 MPs registered. Of them, 25 were from GERB-SDS, 17 from DPS, 16 from Democratic Bulgaria, 14 from Progressive Bulgaria, 13 from We Continue the Change and 2 from Vazrazhdane.

Fifteen minutes later, at the second roll call, 80 MPs were present. GERB-SDS had 28, Democratic Bulgaria 18, DPS 16, We Continue the Change 13 again and Vazrazhdane 2. Only three MPs from Progressive Bulgaria stayed.

MPs were due to hear from Ivaylo Yordanov, chief commissioner and head of the Execution of Sentences Directorate, and Svetoslav Penov, senior commissioner and head of Sofia prison. Vasil Kordev, who ran Sofia prison in November and December 2022, was also invited.

Besides Atanasov's pardon, We Continue the Change also wanted to discuss a fight between inmates in the prison hospital on 16 November 2022. The party says Atanasov took part in it three weeks before he was pardoned.