Three suspected crime bosses in custody and awaiting trial are planning to stand in a Bulgarian election in July that could give them parliamentary seats and immunity from prosecution.
Bulgaria, which joined the EU in 2007, is under growing pressure from Brussels to crack down on organized crime.
The Socialist-led government has also been hit by a wave of protests against economic hardship and corruption.
Plamen Galev, arrested with his business partner in January on charges of racketeering and running an organized crime group, plans to run in the July 5 vote as an independent candidate in the southwestern town of Dupnitsa, his lawyer said on Tuesday.
Local council officials said that Galev and his partner Angel Hristov effectively ran Dupnitsa for years through contacts in the police, courts and tax authorities.
They have come to symbolize a climate of impunity in the Balkan country since the collapse of communism 20 years ago.
Father and son Veselin and Hristo Danov, in custody since September on charges of extortion, money laundering and luring people into prostitution, will also run for parliament in the Black Sea city of Varna on the ticket of a local party.
Electoral Commission officials said there were no legal grounds to bar the three from the election.
Bulgaria has so far failed to convict a single senior official of corruption and has sent to jail just one crime boss since the fall of communism in 1989.
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