A jailed Bulgarian mayor whose detention is increasingly seen as a litmus test of the rule of law in the Balkan country says the EU should ramp up its pressure on Sofia to halt its descent toward authoritarianism.

Mayor Blagomir Kotsev of Varna, Bulgaria’s third-largest city, was arrested July 8 on graft charges, which he has denied. His liberal anti-corruption We Continue the Change party insists the high-profile case is politically motivated and shows the country’s judiciary has been weaponized.

The arrest has sparked nationwide protests and triggered a renewed outcry over the influence of organized crime in the country of 6.7 million people. Former Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov, from Kotsev’s pro-EU party, said Bulgaria was in a “state of dictatorship.”

Kotsev’s plea for Brussels to take action comes as liberals in the European Parliament call for Bulgaria’s EU funds to be cut over the arrest. Valérie Hayer, chair of the Renew group, said Kotsev’s detention revealed the country’s “institutional perversion.”

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has argued it is “increasingly difficult for Europe to be lied to about what is happening in Bulgaria,” accusing the judiciary of “mercilessly” pursuing the opposition while turning a blind eye to those in power.

Speaking to POLITICO during his daily 10-minute slot for telephone calls from jail, Kotsev said the EU should exert “more political pressure” on the Bulgarian government.

Before his arrest, he said, he had been warned he was under political attack. The blitz was due to his party, which runs on an anti-mafia platform in a Black Sea city notorious for politically-connected mob crime and Russian influence. Kotsev said he was threatened that he could end up like jailed Turkish mayors opposed to the rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

“Some people were saying to me: ‘I heard that you should [quit] this party because it’s going to be dangerous for you.’ I received a signal that ‘if you don’t do it, this will happen; look what happened in Turkey; look at what happened in other places.’ And actually, the scenario is very similar to what I see in other places outside of Bulgaria, but they’re not in the EU,” he said.

“I’m very much concerned that we’re an EU member country and these things are happening here.”

POLITICO contacted the center-right ruling coalition GERB party but received no response. Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov from GERB said in July that the country’s independent judiciary should be left to do its job.

Captured state

Rule of law has long been a concern in Bulgaria. Reformist politicians and investigative journalists say they live in a “captured state” where the judiciary and Bulgaria’s sprawling security apparatus are linked to organized crime. The European Commission has noted the perception of judicial independence in Bulgaria is “very low.”

The reformist opposition, including Kotsev’s We Continue the Change, argues it is being targeted for its success in winning regional elections in large cities such as Sofia and Varna — infuriating the old political order, which has lost lucrative public contracts as a result.

Indeed, public contracts play a key role in the case against Kotsev. Plamenka Dimitrova, a catering manager who received lucrative contracts from the previous Varna administration, has accused Kotsev of trying to extort money from her for new contracts. The embattled mayor has been charged with seeking a 15 percent cut from school and kindergarten meals.

“If I, as the mayor of the country’s third-largest city, can be targeted, it could happen to any ordinary citizen,” Kotlev said. “Anyone can be jailed while under investigation. It can take months or even years, and even if you’re innocent, you can remain in custody until someone decides to release you.”

“I’m very worried, and it’s not just me — many people in Bulgaria are asking where we stand in terms of our judicial system,” he added. “This concerns me deeply because instead of improving as a member of the European Union, things are getting worse.”

Strategic port

Varna, Bulgaria’s largest port, is strategically important for NATO and European security. It is also a hub of Russian cultural and economic influence and is home to several thousand Russian citizens.

For decades it was run by the GERB party of PM Zhelyazkov and former premier Boyko Borissov, who is still one of the country’s main powerbrokers.

Former PM Kiril Petkov, now a lawmaker with We Continue the Change, described the case against Kotsev as part of a broader campaign against opposition parties. The drive, he said, had been orchestrated by the country’s chief prosecutor, Borislav Sarafov, to protect the interests of Borissov and sanctioned oligarch Delyan Peevski, head of the DPS-New Beginnings election coalition that de facto supports the current government.

President Radev has also focused attention on Borissov and Peevski in discussions of the rule of law, saying: “Everyone sees that democracy in our country is a façade, the government is a decoration for the Peevski-Borisov duo, and justice is selective.” 

Petkov said it was important that the EU wakes up to the fact that this is not “just a Bulgarian issue” but could also affect Black Sea security.

“A city without a mayor benefits Putin’s regime,” Petkov told POLITICO.

POLITICO contacted both GERB and DPS-New Beginnings but received no response. The latter has dismissed We Continue the Change as a party of “corrupt and compromised politicians” in its statements.

In July, Zhelyazkov from GERB said: “In a democratic state governed by the rule of law, there are two basic principles. The first principle is the presumption of innocence. The second basic principle is the independence of the judiciary. If we want to be a state governed by rule of law, we must respect both principles.” 

In the meantime, the political drama has led to theatrics. Seeking to confound his critics, who accuse him of seeking revenge against We Continue the Change for his own arrest in 2022, Borissov said he’d happily lobby for Kotsev’s release. “If they give me a Blago Kotsev T-shirt, I’ll wear it!” he said earlier this month.

In typically pugnacious form, Peevski last week ended up in a vulgar dispute on a street in front of the parliament with Assen Vassilev, chairman of We Continue the Change. “Go off and get screwed at home!” Peevski barked at him.

From jail, Kotsev said people were scared by Bulgaria’s descent from the rule of law.

“I’m really afraid of the fear I see outside,” Kotsev said. “People are afraid to speak up against what is happening.”