Prosecutor's Office

The Prosecutor's Office announced today that it is launching an investigation into the information disclosed by the State Department of the United States on corruption activities involving Vasil Bozhkov, Delyan Peevski, Ilko Zheliazkov, Alexander Manolev, Petar Haralampiev and Krasimir Tomov.

The management of Lozenets University Hospital (aka former Governmental Hospital)will be replaced because of multiple abuses, revealed caretaker Minister of Health Dr. Stoycho Katsarov at a briefing at the Council of Ministers. He pointed out that the health institution had "syphoned off the National Health Insurance Fund and performed illegal transplantations.

The Serbian authorities granted citizenship to former Bosnian Serb military policeman Mirko Vrucinic in June 2020 - two months before his defence was due to present its closing arguments in his war crimes trial, BIRN has learned.

Ignoring criticism of the event, a Bosnian Serb minister attended a memorial service on Monday in Visegrad for Russian fighters in the 1992-95 Bosnian war, where flowers were laid at the Monument to the Fallen Russian Volunteers at the Megdan Military Cemetery.

Amnesty International published its 2020/2021 Report on the State of the World's Human Rights on Wednesday and the part about Bulgaria reads that media freedom and freedom of association have further deteriorated, as authorities targeted journalists and critics, and cracked down on anti-government protests.

Thirty-eight pre-trial proceedings have been launched for violations of the political rights of citizens, the Ministry of Interior, the National State Security Agency and the Prosecutor's Office report.

As defendants, 12 people were detained.

Searches, seizures, searches and questionings of witnesses have been carried out.

The body of evidence is yet to be analyzed.

Bulgaria's April 4 2021 parliamentary elections headed into the final stretch ahead of polls closing at 8pm, with problems with voting machines reported from various places, allegations of vote-buying, websites penalised for illegally publishing exit polls and indications on strong interest in voting abroad.

The Interior Ministry informed what actions have been taken to ensure public order, security and the legality of the elections. 20,000 Interior Ministry employees will be guarding voters and polls on election day.

The well-known Serbian actor and politican Branislav Lecic has denied raping the actress Danijela Stajnfeld, the Belgrade Higher Prosecutor's Office told BIRN.

Lecic was summoned to the police to give a statement on accusations of rape dating to 2012. He spent several hours in the police station on Friday.

The well-known Serbian actress Danijela Stajnfeld - who last year first spoke out about rape in the country's acting profession - has named the man she says raped her, the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade confirmed on Monday.

It confirmed that Stajnfeld had given a statement and that the suspect's initials were B.L.