In connection with the escalation of tensions during protests organised in the capital on February 22, 2025, the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office is conducting a pretrial investigation due to information suggesting the involvement of individuals with immunity in the actions being investigated.
Six individuals have been detained, and ten police officers were injured after the storming of the European Commission building in Sofia by protestors on Saturday.
Today, the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office proposed to the Chief Prosecutor of the Republic of Bulgaria to submit reasoned requests to the Parliament for authorisations to bring criminal charges against MPs Nikola Dimitrov, Slavcho Krumov, Yordan Todorov, and Ivaylo Chorbov, all MPs of the 51st Parliament. A proposal was also made to the Chief Prosecutor to request the Central Election Commission to lift the immunity of Petar Ananiev, who is registered as a candidate for mayor of a district in Sofia. The suggested measure for Ivaylo Chorbov and Slavcho Krumov is "detention in custody," for which parliamentary approval is also required, at the request of the Prosecutor General. For the remaining individuals, a measure of "monetary guarantee" (bail) in the amount of 10,000 BGN is proposed.
These proposals were prepared by a team of supervising prosecutors from the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office after an investigation and the collection of sufficient evidence, which forms a reasonable basis to suspect that the five individuals are involved in committing specific criminal offenses of a general nature.
The proposals from the supervising prosecutors indicate that the gathered evidence is sufficient to charge each of the four MPs and the mayoral candidate for committing indecent acts that grossly violated public order and showed clear disrespect to society. The hooliganism involved in these acts is characterised by exceptional brazenness, and for Chorbov, it also involves extreme cynicism. The actions of Nikola Dimitrov, Ivaylo Chorbov, and Yordan Todorov are accompanied by resistance against law enforcement officers performing duties to maintain public order, and for Todorov, the hooliganism is a continued offense, consisting of two separate acts.
The hooliganistic actions of Nikola Dimitrov and Yordan Todorov, according to the proposals, involve breaking through a police cordon, set up to restrict protestors' access to the European Commission building and to prevent any attempts to damage it. Reaching the building’s door, Dimitrov refused to comply with a police order to stay away from the building and return behind the cordon, exhibiting violent aggression by pushing and shoving the police officers. Todorov showed his MP card, pushed and insulted the police officers, and broke through a police line that was established to prevent access to the building.
Ivaylo Chorbov's acts of hooliganism consisted of throwing eggs filled with red paint at the police officers and at the building of the European Commission office, refusing to obey police orders to cease these actions, and showing aggression by pushing the police officers.
The indecent acts of Petar Ananiev are described in the proposal as throwing objects at the European Commission building, which he took out of a black backpack, attempting to break through the police cordon around the building, shoving the police officers, and throwing pyrotechnic articles lit by him.
The hooliganistic actions of the five individuals are described in the proposals as occurring in a public place, during a mass event, in the presence of a large number of members of the public, grossly affecting the personal dignity of police officers, and representing a brutal demonstration of disrespect for law enforcement. Therefore, these actions are qualified as exceptionally brazen, with Ivaylo Chorbov’s actions being particularly cynical, as they were especially bold and shameless, grossly violating public moral principles.
In addition, sufficient evidence has been gathered regarding Chorbov’s involvement in two additional offenses: unlawfully destroying police uniforms by throwing eggs filled with red paint, which rendered the uniforms completely and permanently unusable, and setting fire to valuable property, namely the European Commission building, creating a fire hazard to the lives of numerous memebrs of the public and police officers nearby and endangering other valuable property.
A proposal for lifting of immunity has also been made regarding Slavcho Krumov, based on sufficient evidence that he threw lit pyrotechnic articles and bottles filled with flammable liquid at the European Commission building. The actions of defacing the building are also considered hooliganism, carried out with exceptional brazenness.
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