Bomb Attack on Bulgarian Prosecutor Triggers Security Fears and Suspicions

Ivan Geshev, General Prosecutor of Bulgaria. Photo: Office of the Prosecutor General.

Authorities have described the blast, which happened as Geshev's vehicle was slowing down on a highway near the town of Samokov on Monday, as intended to kill the top prosecutor.

Geshev was travelling with his wife and children but no one in the car was injured.

Borislav Sarafov, head of the National Investigation Service, said on Monday that the bomb had 3kg of TNT and left a three-metre-wide crater. On Tuesday, he also described the explosives used as "hand-made" but digitally controlled.

Weeks before the attack, on March 16, Geshev declared that conspiracies were being plotted to oust him.

However, critical media published suspicions that the attack was essentially a PR stunt for Geshev.

"There are inconsistencies in the official version of events that don't add up," Emanuil Yordanov, who was the country's interior minister from 1999-2001, told Bulgarian National Radio.

"The level of crime in Bulgaria in recent years does not suggest an assassination attempt on the Prosecutor General. It has been a long time since a crime of an ambitious and serious scale has been committed," Yordanov added.

Some critics expressed concern that the blast was intended to undermine a legislative push for judicial reform that would make the ousting of Geshev easier.

The draft legislation is being advanced by the We Continue the Change party and the Democratic Party, and is receiving some support from former ruling party GERB, despite its loyalty to Geshev.

"In such cases, the key question is always who has an interest to do such thing. The answer is - no one. That is, except Geshev himself, who actually has an interest in staging an...