Pardon of the 'Petrich Escobar': parliament makes second attempt at hearing
The legal affairs committee holds an extraordinary sitting at the request of We Continue the Change. A first attempt failed last week for lack of a quorum.
Archive image · Photo: Лорд Бъмбъри / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
The legal affairs committee of Bulgaria's National Assembly is holding an extraordinary sitting on Wednesday on the pardon of Ognyan Atanasov, known as the 'Petrich Escobar'. It was requested by We Continue the Change (PP) and a group of MPs. Last week the same hearing collapsed because there was no quorum. Invited are the head of the prison administration, Ivaylo Yordanov, the governor of Sofia prison, Svetoslav Penov, and Vasil Kordev, who ran the prison in November and December 2022.
MPs also want to question the head of medical services in prisons, the doctor who drew up or signed Atanasov's medical report, the heads of the DANS security agency and of the presidential pardons commission, the Interior Ministry's chief secretary, the director of the organised crime directorate GDBOP and the head of the prison hospital. The questions concern how the medical documents were prepared and checked, and how a brawl at the prison hospital on 16 November 2022 in which Atanasov took part was reported.
The pardon was granted by decree No. 119 of 5 December 2022. President Iliana Iotova, who is running for a full term, said last week she would refer the case to prosecutors to establish whether she had been misled. According to Clubz, the documents were still being prepared on Sunday. She had initially promised full information on the case but later said medical details could not be disclosed. According to Clubz, MPs also want answers on possible pressure and threats against doctors and on the exchange of information with the presidency.