Volen Siderov, the leader of Bulgaria’s far-right Ataka party, has been charged with breaching restrictions to contain the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak after urging people to go to church at Easter without wearing face masks, the prosecution said in a statement. A second charge concerns obstructing a police officer from carrying out his duty when serving a summons on Siderov to appear for questioning.

This is not the first time Siderov has had legal troubles as he is notorious for provoking scandals and even fights in an attempt to gain more voters. In the last few months, his party has been losing support and many analysts saw in Siderov’s actions a familiar pattern from the past.

Earlier in April, Siderov called on people to defy anti-epidemic measures and go to church. 

In a talk show on his Alfa TV channel, Siderov said that he cannot enter church with a face mask, because “if you have faith in God you should not put a mask in front of his face”.

Bulgaria declared a state of emergency on March 13 over the coronavirus outbreak and imposed tough restrictions on movement. In April, the health ministry issued an order for mandatory wearing of face masks in public places. 

However, in a controversial move the government decided not to ban masses for Orthodox Easter, while at the same time forbidding Bulgarians to take walks in parks and mountains.

The number of reported coronavirus infections in the country remains low at around 750 as of April 15.