6 Bulgarian Security Chiefs to Be Sanctioned over Dogan Attack

A total of six employees of Bulgaria's National Security Services, NSO, will be sanctioned over the attack on the country's ethnic Turkish leader, Ahmed Dogan.

The most senior officer among them is Chief of Sector "Mass Events, Guests and Foreign Delegations," Colonel Krasimir Stanchev.

The sector is part of Unit One which is in charge of personal security of politicians. The guards from the sector were supposed to guarantee not only Dogan's security, but the security of all Members of the Parliament who were attending the Eight National Conference of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms party, DPS, last Saturday.

The Chiefs of the two NSO groups, Georgi Zanev and Georgi Raykov, and three other guards, who were sent to provide security for the event at the National Palace of Culture in the capital Sofia, but let the attacker reach all the way to Dogan, will also be punished.

The Bulgarian Pressa (Press) daily writes that it was unlikely for President, Rosen Plevneliev, to ask for the resignation of NSO Chief, General Todor Kodzheykov, and his Deputy, Kalin Ivanov, since this would lead to a confrontation with Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov.

Kodzheykov is a former bodyguard of Borisov.

The NSO Code postulates the chief of unit is responsible for the entire activity of the services and everything that is happening during an event.

Zanev is the chief of Dogan's team while Raykov is the chief of the avant-garde.

The NSO leadership is analyzing now security breaches during the caucus of the party and it is expected that on Thursday Kodzheykov, would announce officially the sanctions.

Kodzheykov will further inform the Consultative Council for National Security at the Office of the President about the sanctions.

Soon after the incident, President Rosen Plevneliev, announced he was calling the Council to examine security breaches on the part of NSO.

The opposition has asked for the General's resignation, but the most likely outcome is that he will keep the post.

Last Saturday, police in Bulgaria detained a man after he pointed a gun at Dogan  as he was delivering a speech at the party conference in the capital Sofia. No shots were fired. The man was identified as Oktay Enimehmedov, a 25-year-old ethnic Turkish resident of the city of Burgas, with a previous criminal record for assault and theft.

Enimehmedov says he did not actually want to kill Dogan, but to scare him. The gun was established to have been a gas pistol, which cannot kill anyone.

Sofia City Prosecutor, Nikolay Kokinov, announced Enimehmedov will be charged with grave hooliganism and death threat. The Sofia Regional Court ruled Tuesday to keep him under permanent detention.