Justice for Bulgaria is the name of the newest in the long line of “civic movements” emerging on the political stage in this country. Its creation was announced by former prosecutor general Ivan Geshev in a live stream on Facebook.

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It is not a party yet because Geshev has not been dismissed from the position as yet, and hence does not have the right to be involved in politics. The aim of the movement will be “an independent judiciary protected from criminal political encroachments”, and its motto – “God, fatherland, family”, the former prosecutor general said. In his motives for creating the movement Geshev stated that “nobody is thinking of Bulgaria or the people any more” and that “this cannot be tolerated any longer” because “our children won’t stay here”. Ivan Geshev stated he owes answers to all questions coming from the public, and that he will give the answers to them during a series of personal meetings around the country.

“It will be a civic association, patriotic, based on Christian ethics and the traditional Bulgarian family values,” said Ivan Geshev, and went on that once his resignation is accepted all people need to stand together in the name of “conservative values”. “It is high time a genuinely Bulgarian project was put in place, not a project of the embassies which have been manipulating our country,” Geshev said and went on that what matters to him most is the “direct contact with the people”, and that the ruling class has always wanted to restrict the rights of the citizens but that “Bulgaria has never been in the humiliating position it is in now.” Ivan Geshev also called the National Assembly “a safe haven for criminals with immunity” where “some got themselves whitewashed, while others saw their way to grabbing hold of power”. That is why it will be Justice for Bulgaria’s aim to restore the majority voting system and justice which Geshev says has been trampled underfoot by the criminal model of governance. Bulgarians should have a sense of national pride, they should be confident that Europe is working for the fatherland, and not for the underhand dealings of the euro-bureaucrats, the former prosecutor general said. Asked, on Facebook, about high-profile court cases, like Barcelonagate, and why work on it is being resumed at this precise moment in time, Geshev admitted there was a widespread public sentiment that this, and some other cases have been delayed:

“Justice is a difficult and complex process, and not just in Bulgaria but throughout the EU the important cases drag on for years,” Ivan Geshev said.

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“Work on all of them has been active and, it is perhaps now time for a countdown. I would like to remind the public that it is the security services and the Interior Ministry that solve crimes, inform the prosecutor’s office which then files the indictment in court, where the perpetrators can be sentenced. If the Interior Ministry or the services do not solve a crime, the prosecutor’s office cannot do its job, and the court cannot sentence the individual in question for a given act. So why then did people like Kiril Petkov, Hristo Ivanov and others around them keep harping on about the house in Barcelona, the drawers and Boyko Borissov for months but are now asking the question: why now? That shows lack of principle, it shows they are only interested in power.”

Asked whether he is linked to fugitive businessman Vassil Bojkov and whether he might sponsor Geshev’s future party, the former prosecutor general said this was not true. The link, he said, to the abovementioned businessman was connected with the fact that while he was prosecutor general, 19 charges were brought against him. Ivan Geshev added that the people he will be relying on, if he decides to set up a party, are the Bulgarian citizens who are disgusted by politics and who believe the direction has been lost long ago, but who want to live in Bulgaria with their children.

Ivan Geshev’s announcement was followed by a host of comments by analysts, while according to an Alpha Research poll, conducted June 20-26, Geshev’s approval rating as a would-be politician stands at 3%, while 82% of the respondents say they would not put their trust in a party led by him.

Translated and posted by Milena Daynova