Sofia Regional Prosecutor’s Office proposes lifting MP Kiril Petkov's immunity over the case with his citizenship

The Sofia Regional Prosecutor’s Office on June 6 made a proposal to Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev to submit to the National Assembly a reasoned request for lifting the immunity of former Prime Minister and current MP from “We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria”, Kiril Petkov.

The proposal was drawn up in connection with pre-trial proceedings regarding a declaration of citizenship containing false information, which was submitted under Article 110 of the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria.

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The case was initially referred to the now defunct Specialised Prosecutor's Office. In 2021, the Specialised Prosecutor's Office refused to investigate the case of Kiril Petkov's dual citizenship, declaring that the Specialised Prosecutor's Office was not competent to deal with the case and sent it to the Regional Prosecutor's Office. At the time, Sofia's regional prosecutor Nevena Zartova announced that Petkov had not committed a crime by declaring that he had only Bulgarian citizenship, although this circumstance was not true.

"This false information is only declaratory and informative. It has no probative value. For this reason, the team of prosecutors at the Regional Prosecutor's Office decided not to initiate pre-trial proceedings," Nevena Zartova, head of the Sofia Regional Prosecutor's Office, said on 16 December 2021.

Today, however, the regional Prosecutor's Office said that from the evidence gathered in the course of the investigation, it could be concluded that the declaration submitted by Petkov to the President of the Republic of Bulgaria concealed the truth - the existence of dual citizenship, and confirmed the untruth that the person is eligible to be elected as a member of parliament.

Speaking to journalists later, Kiril Petkov said that he would waive his immunity to be investigated for his citizenship declaration. Petkov added that he would wait for Parliament to set up an immunity committee where he would present all facts and evidence so that it becomes clear to all how the Bulgarian Prosecutor’s office is used for political pressure.

I want to show the whole Bulgarian people how this Prosecutor’s office uses invalid cases for political pressure. We are setting up the committee in the National Assembly, we are showing absolutely all the documents in front of the whole Bulgarian people, let the Prosecutor’s Office explain why after 2 years it is raising this case again and then before the committee decides anything, I will voluntarily give up my immunity to prove that I have nothing to fear, explained Kiril Petkov.