DPS MP Kalin Stoyanov has accused officers of the Kardzhali regional police directorate of abusing their power and beating a 22-year-old man in the yard of the district police station. He made the claim at a briefing in parliament. Stoyanov said it began with a row between two young men over a girl, which involved the son of the regional interior ministry director.
The MP said police searched the man's home on 30 August looking for drugs, but found none. Later that evening, an officer stopped him in central Kardzhali in an unmarked civilian car and took him to the district police station. Stoyanov said two more plainclothes officers joined in there, took him out to the yard and took part in the beating.
According to the MP, the young man was insulted and hit with a wooden chair leg. The same object was used to threaten him with sexual violence.
"Someone gives an order to switch off the cameras, and from that point the police officers start taking the law into their own hands and beating the young man," Stoyanov told the briefing. He said he was relying on information from the young man and on what DPS had found out.
Stoyanov also claims that Shteryo Milchev, the interior ministry's regional director in Kardzhali, used the directorate's resources and took his son's side. No charges against Milchev have been reported. After the beating, the MP said, the officers told the young man: "When anyone asks you what happened, you will say that you fell down the stairs."
Stoyanov pointed out that interior minister Ivan Demerdzhiev is an MP for the Kardzhali region. He asked the minister whether he knows about the case, what steps have been taken, and whether "a brave prosecutor" will be found to investigate it.
Stoyanov said there are other similar cases in the Kardzhali police, which DPS will make public "after some time".