Ex-IntMin Dismisses Accusations of Wire-tapping During 2014 Protests

Tsvetlin Yovchev, Interior Minister in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski, dismissed the accusations that the 2014 anti-government protests in Bulgaria were accompanied by wiretapping.

These accusations were hurled by the chairperson of the parliamentary Internal Security and Public Order Committee Atanas Atanasov last week.

According to Yovchev, the incumbent Interior Minister Veselin Vuchkov knew that Atanasov's statements were untrue, while the Prime Minister Boyko Borisov was deluded.

The former Interior Minister explained that the operation, which was initiated by the ministry's Internal Security department, was aimed at uncovering "moles" in the system.

Yovchev said that the operation, which did not involve wire-tapping, was against people who benefited by providing unauthorised access to the system.

The blogger Ivo Bozhkov, who was among the most active participants in the anti-government protests, cited a report by Yovchev, in which different types of protesters are described.

Bozhkov commented that such conclusions can not be reached without the collection of information.

Yovchev replied that his report was based primarily on information that had been published in the media and later analysed.