Third DPS mayor in three days: police question mayor of Kardzhali

Police entered Kardzhali town hall on Thursday and took the mayor in for questioning. According to BNT, he gave a statement at the local police station but was not detained. Authorities did not immediately give a reason. The mayor is a deputy chairman of the DPS, as is the mayor of Belitsa, who was detained the day before.

The DPS reacted sharply. In a statement, the party asked whether police operations against three of its mayors on three consecutive days were what Progressive Bulgaria and Prime Minister Rumen Radev considered an election campaign. The use of the police and security services betrayed fear of the government's failure, it said. The DPS said it would turn to European institutions and law enforcement and would not be intimidated. Its parliamentary group also wants investigators to examine whether the head of the Customs Agency pressed the mayor of Belitsa to switch parties; he said he would respond after returning from a business trip. Regional Development Minister Ivan Shishkov rejected suggestions of a show. The arrests were part of a process against corruption, he told BNT. “I don't think that either we or Bulgarian society perceive this as a spectacle,” the minister said.