EU: Bulgarian Greens leader ‘violently arrested’ during peaceful demonstration

Borislav Sandov, co-chair of Zeleno dvizhenie (Bulgarian Greens), was “violently arrested” while taking part in a peaceful demonstration in front of the Bulgarian parliament, the European Greens said.

Three other members of the party were also arrested, the Group added.

Protests against allegations of generalised state-level corruption have seen increasing unlawful arrests, the Group said. “Increaing police violence is… becoming the norm whie citizens are demanding progressive democratic reforms,” they said.

Thomas Waitz and Evelyne Huytebroeck, co-chairs of the European Green Party, called for the immediate release of Sandov and the three members of his party. “The Bulgarian police and state must not infringe upon their citizens’ right to assemble and protest,” they said.

They also criticised the “deafening silence” of the European People’s Party- the EU party Boyko Borissov belongs to. This silence is tantamount to complicity since Borissov was responsible for the violence that took place, they said. The European Greens insisted that the EPP should react swiftly and pressure the Bulgarian PM to end the police violence against peaceful protestors.

The EPP must react immediately and pressure Boyko Borissov, prime minister of Bulgaria, and his government to stop authorising police violence against peaceful protesters and release all the citizens currently detained for the sole reason of asking for the end of corruption and the re-establishment of the rule of law in the country.