© Youtube.com
Still shot from security cameras at the restaurant as police pull up at the entrance.
The owner of a nightclub in Plovdiv and about 40 out of a total of 400 checked customers will refer the prosecutor’s office with a request to check whether the actions of employees of the regional police department in the city, who checked the customers of the establishment for drugs by driving them, were legal to wait for hours in front of the toilets where they were undressed one by one.
The inspection began about an hour after midnight on St. George’s Day in a nightclub in Plovdiv. Four police vans stopped in front and began an inspection that lasted nearly 5 hours, and the visitors were thoroughly searched. None of the customers were allowed to leave before the police check was completed.
Due to the humiliating attitude of the police, according to the owner of the establishment and the customers, they claim that they will refer the prosecutor to check whether there was an abuse of authority in the case. Representatives of the industry demanded resignations and threatened to protest on Friday in front of the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Plovdiv, while the Ministry of the Interior announced that the action was legal, but it will be checked whether there was an excess of authority.
Clients: We were stripped and made to squat
“They stopped the music and lined everyone up. They started checking everyone and didn’t let us leave. This went on for a long time. We were all undressed – for me it’s not normal and it’s humiliating,” a client of the restaurant told Nova TV “.
Another customer said he took off his pants and was then made to squat. Then the police issued him a report. “This happened to everyone else. I don’t like it, I don’t feel okay,” commented one of the clients present during the search.
A man who works at the entrance of the establishment says that the policemen broke in, stopped the music and started behaving arrogantly.
“They took me to the toilet and made me take off my pants. Completely naked – the men made us take off our pants and pants and squat down,” he added.
An employee of the restaurant claims that she tried to take pictures of the queues of people waiting to be checked out. “During that time, a policeman came and hit me in the arms. I asked why, and he told me to stop filming and delete the video,” said Nikol Stoyanova, quoted by “Nova TV”.
Another employee of the restaurant says she was handcuffed and taken to the district office to be booked. “They wanted me to be the face of some woman in whom they found one gram of marijuana. I refused, and the policeman threatened me that he would draw up a bill of 1,000 BGN,” Antonia Kamberova explained to the television.
The restaurant said it considered the inspection biased and humiliating for all 400 guests, and said it would file a complaint with the prosecutor’s office.
“It’s a disgrace to our customers and we can’t let it go. They closed us for five hours on a day off when people go out to enjoy themselves. We have 40-50 staff on our own which is costing us money in wages. It could have been found another way to check people”, commented the owner of the night club Deyan Naydenov.
He stressed that the losses from the evening in question will not be covered and will be entirely at the expense of the club, and the police actions will continue.
“My question is, is there operational information about 400 people selling and using drugs to be searched in this way? If this is the way to check people who have gone to have fun, we do not agree,” he is categorical. the owner of the establishment, Deyan Naydenov.
“From now on, we will be repeatedly checked, because we did not keep silent. 40 days ago, in the same way, about 40 policemen from the GDBOP came with assault rifles and hoods. The check again lasted several hours, with the lights on and the music stopped, but they did not find anything,” he said the owner of the establishment, according to whom the checks are targeted and biased.
The police: The actions are completely legal
The police confirmed that on the evening in question there was a specialized operation against the distribution and use of drugs and added that three pre-trial proceedings were initiated after it. The Ministry of the Interior confirmed that people were stripped during the searches and specified that this was in the form of a “personal search that took place in separate premises”.
At a briefing, the director of the Plovdiv police, Senior Commissioner Vasil Kostadinov, assured that the action was legal, but admitted that there could be an infringement of rights.
“It is a public secret that such substances are used and distributed in such nightclubs. That is why the method and approach of inspections in these establishments is different from the daily activities of the police. Depending on the capacity of the establishment, different practices are undertaken,” Kostadinov explained. quoted by “Nova TV”.
© Press Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
At a briefing, the director of the Plovdiv police, Senior Commissioner Vasil Kostadinov, assured that the action was legal.
He indicated that pre-trial proceedings have been initiated against two people and one against an unknown perpetrator. According to people present at the scene, 1 gram of marijuana and a bag of a powdery substance weighing 0.5 grams were found. The police director declined to comment on whether he was satisfied with the outcome of the operation, given the large number of people checked.
“I understand the condition that many of the patrons of the establishment found themselves in. But colleagues felt that this was the right approach to carry out an inspection. What they reported to me was that there were 4 separate rooms – two for women and two for men, where the checks were carried out. Indeed, there were such type of checks, but they were aimed at specific persons for whom there was evidence of a crime,” Kostadinov also said.
The director of the ODMVR – Plovdiv, did not clarify whether there was data that all 400 searched possessed or distributed prohibited substances, but pointed out that the police had operational information about the distribution of drugs in the establishment, and the way the operation was conducted was a subjective decision to the head of the operation.
© Georgi Kozhuharov
Acting Minister of Internal Affairs Ivan Demerdzhiev explained that an investigation into the case is currently underway.
Acting Minister of Internal Affairs Ivan Demerdzhiev also commented on the topic and responded to calls for the resignation of the police director in Plovdiv. Demerdzhiev explained that he would first check the operation of the Plovdiv police and then comment. Asked if he would demand the resignation of police officers, he replied: “Before the investigation is over, I will not ask for anything, so wait until it is over.”
The industry demands resignations, the police begin investigations
The Bulgarian Association of Restaurants has issued a statement expressing its indignation at the information on the case and demanding the punishment of the guilty police officers and their resignations.
“The strip search in a discotheque in Plovdiv was for one marijuana. This is very disturbing and protests are expected,” commented Richard Alibegov, the chairman of the Bulgarian Bar Association, to BTV.
“60 people state resource 6 hours checking hundreds of people in an extremely disturbing way. This is happening without having any right to this thing – for one marijuana and one joint. In addition to communicating with the owner of the establishment, we have communicated with law firms in Bulgaria and abroad. They defined the situation as completely absurd. I have never seen such a thing in our country,” added Alibegov.
“In a normal country, the police chiefs should have resigned the very next day. For us, this is absolutely unacceptable behavior,” commented Emil Kolarov from the Association of Restaurants to Nova TV.
“Is this the efficiency of our police – that they have data on 400 people who are in possession of illegal substances and after carrying out the check, they found only two. You can search and strip a person if you have operational data on him”, he thinks.
© Yulia Lazarova
The chairman of the Bulgarian Association of Restaurants, Richard Alibegov, commented that the action was for one cigarette of marijuana. The photo is archival.
According to him, the inspection is biased and aimed at the specific establishment. Or is it an act of intimidation of the industry. What is being performed is not clear. The prosecutor’s office should take note and react adequately, and not claim that the action is legal. Instead of the arrogant behavior and overstepping of the rights of the police officers, they should apologize for disturbing the peace and spoiling the celebration of these people who are not at fault. If this does not happen, there should be resignations,” Kolarov added.
Lawyer Alexander Kashamov explained that initially an inspection could be justified by suspicions of violations or crimes, as well as a search.
“But massive actions of this nature are extremely questionable, because always the requirements under the law on the Ministry of Internal Affairs to have a personal search, inspection of personal belongings and inspection of premises, there must be some connection between them. That is, there must be a specific connection between the person who is the subject of a search or inspection or, respectively, the premises and the violation. In this case, we are talking about even if the person is required to have evidence of a serious crime, which is punishable by more than 5 years of imprisonment,” he said.
According to him, all these circumstances make what happened at the discotheque in Plovdiv extremely doubtful.
“We are talking about basic human rights. The Strasbourg Court has accepted that general cases of searches, stops, searches simply for the purposes of, for example, securing a place near protests, etc., are not compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights “, added lawyer Kashamov.
2023-05-09 13:21:00
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