BULGARIAN POLICE ARRESTED PETAR NIZAMOV FOR ALLEGED ILLEGAL DETENTION OF MIGRANTS NEAR STRANDZHA

On 12th of April, the Bulgarian police detained Petar Nizamov for alleged illegal detention of migrants near the Rezovska River in the region of Strandzha, South-East of Bulgaria.

Nizamov is expected to face charges for illegal deprivation of liberty.

Bulgaria’s Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov said that similar cases would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Nizamov has been detained for 24 hours but the prosecutor’s office will decide whether to extend his arrest. The chief prosecutor said that other participants in the incident had been identified.

The home and the car of Nizamov have been searched.

Tsatsarov said that attempts by anyone to impersonate the Border Police, Criminal Police or any other part of the police force was a direct form of violation of the law. These are crimes and will be prosecuted as such, Tsatsarov said.

He said that everyone had a civic duty to assist the police, but a clear distinction should be made between the civic duty to assist the law enforcement authorities and any form of taking over the functions of state bodies.

The recent cases in which self-organised squads of individuals illegally detain migrants provoked polar opinions in the society. In Facebook, Bulgaria’s interior minister Rumyana Bachvarova described the so-called “citizens’ arrests” as unacceptable.