Legal Action over PM Citizenship Scandal Cancelled

Politics | June 19, 2003, Thursday // 00:00
Legal Action over PM Citizenship Scandal Cancelled Journalist Emilia Ivanova emerges from a four-hour police interrogation on media allegations about the prime minister’s Spanish citizenship. The legal action was halted a few hours later following media outcry. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (novinite.com)

Journalists from local private Darik radio who first broadcast the allegations that the country's prime minister held double citizenship escaped trial. The Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's Office announced a decision to halt the investigation against them Thursday. The move came after three journalists were questioned the same day.

The citizenship row broke out June 4th after Darik radio reported that, according to an official from Spain's Justice Ministry, Bulgaria's Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg was a Spanish national. Bulgaria's Constitution requires that prime ministers hold Bulgarian citizenship only. Later on, Madrid officially denied that Saxe-Coburg had ever become a Spanish national.

The prime minister's Chief of Staff Radi Naydenov has allegedly initiated the investigation against the journalists.

One of the interrogated radio people, Emiliya Ivanova, said she would file a complaint against those who triggered the legal action.
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