The governor of Burgas prison knew in advance that the mayors of Sungurlare and Belitsa would stay in custody, the DPS party claims. It made the claim at a briefing in parliament.

Last Wednesday, prime minister Rumen Radev said at the start of a cabinet meeting that the arrest of the Sungurlare mayor the day before could be only the start of unravelling a scheme.

Dimitar Gavazov of Sungurlare and Radoslav Revanski of Belitsa were detained in special operations by the Chief Directorate for Combating Organised Crime. Burgas Regional Court kept both in custody on 22 October.

Kalin Stoyanov of DPS said the party had established "beyond doubt" that the prison governor knew about the custody order long before the court hearing.

Stoyanov said the governor sent a letter to Belitsa municipality at 4.28pm on Thursday, telling it that Radoslav Revanski would vote in Burgas prison. The court hearing was set for 5.30pm. Stoyanov said the governor knew Revanski would be held five hours before the court ruled, and that the Sungurlare case is the same as the Belitsa one.

Hamid Hamid, deputy chair of the DPS parliamentary group, called the arrests a political demonstration and pressure on a parliamentary group, a party and its mayors. "We have brought the state to a dictatorship that uses the methods of the former State Security," he said.