Prosecutor's office seeks to lift the immunity of 'Alliance for Rights and Freedoms' MP candidate

An MP candidate from the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms coalition was detained, his lawyer told BTA on October 3. According to him, the MP candidate was arrested for alleged vote buying. According to unofficial information, the MP candidate was caught with marked money.

The MP candidate's home was searched.

The Prosecutor's Office has informed the Central Election Commision (CEC) and the National Assembly that an MP, who is also a candidate for MP, was detained at the time of the crime. The MP is one of the independent MPs in the current parliament and is registered as a candidate on one of the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms lists.

CEC announced at the start of its meeting today that it had received notification that the MP candidate was in custody at the time of committing a serious offence. The Prosecutor's office and the Anti-Corruption Commission, which are working on the investigation, are not giving any information at the moment.

Today, 3 October, 2024, a notification has been sent to the Speaker of the National Assembly Raya Nazaryan on the basis of Article 70, para. 1, clause 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria by the Acting Prosecutor General of the Republic of Bulgaria regarding the detention of the MP of the 50th National Assembly, Ceyhan Ibryamov, in a serious crime," the National Assembly officially announced.

In this regard, the Speaker of the Parliament Raya Nazaryan convened an extraordinary meeting of the Speakers’ Council, at which the members were briefed on the notification received on the detention of the MP for a period of 24 hours under the Law on the Ministry of Interior, starting from 19:10 on 2 October 2024.

The Speaker proceeded with this action due to the fact that the National Assembly was not in session due to the ongoing election campaign and there was no scheduled regular sitting at which the Members of Parliament would be briefed on the information received.

Separately, it has been ordered and all MPs have now been informed on their e-mails that they can read the full text of the notification received at the National Assembly registry, the official announcement of the National Assembly said.