Former Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov. File photoMOSCOW, Mar 18 Former Bulgarian Prime Minister and leader of the GERB party Boyko Borisov has been arrested on extortion charges, his lawyer Menko Menkov said. The words of the lawyer are quoted by the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR). Earlier it was reported that Borisov and other ex-officials were detained during a large-scale police operation related to the investigation of more than 120 cases of abuse of European funds in Bulgaria. According to the lawyer, in the case of Borisov, this is not about abuse of EU funds, but about extortion, a complaint against which was filed by the civil movement «Fighter».
"I did not find out what exactly Borisov is accused of. There are some common words that say that this is extortion. What exactly it is, who it concerns and when it happened, is not said,” said Menkov.
The lawyer added that so far, acting Prime Minister Kiril Petkov has been interrogated in this case as the only witness. As reported, Borisov was detained for 24 hours and taken to the police headquarters in Sofia. As part of the operation, the security forces also detained former Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov, former head of the budget commission Menda Stoyanov and former head of the government press service Sevdalina Arnaudova. Supporters of the GERB party gathered in front of the capital's police department at night. They say that they intend to hold an organized protest in front of the Council of Ministers building in the morning.