Armed Police Raid Bulgarian President's Office

Sofia, July 9 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Jul, 2020 ) :Armed Bulgarian police on Thursday raided President Rumen Radev's offices, raising public ire with a crowd gathering to denounce the chief prosecutor for not targetting the real oligarchs.

The president's legal affairs and anti-corruption secretary and his security and defence advisor were detained for questioning and their offices searched as part of two separate probes into influence-peddling and disclosure of state secrets.

But the 2,000 protesters decried the raids as an attack by the conservative government and the and the chief prosecutor against the Socialists-backed Radev.

The president is a vehement critic of the cabinet of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, accusing it of "links with the oligarchs".

He has also sought constitutional changes to limit the powers and improve accountability of chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev.

In a short address to the protesters, Radev called for a "purge" of the mafia within the executive and the prosecutor's office.

The protesters responded with chants of "Geshev is disgrace!" and "Out with the mafia!".

Geshev asked earlier Thursday "not to be implicated in political games".

"It does not matter if it is the president or the premier, the prosecution acts on the basis of evidence and does not care about political consequences," he said.

The unprecedented raids by heavily armed police and prosecutors were seen by analysts as an attempt to put pressure on the president and drew protesters from all sides of the political spectrum -- socialists but also right-wing opposition and environmentalists.

"An unheard of left-right front has formed against the government," analyst Parvan Simeonov told public BNR radio.

Right-wing opposition leader and ex-justice minister Hristo Ivanov said "a perfect storm is forming -- epidemiological, economical and political."