The Sofia City Court has decided to keep in jail the six alleged “neo-Nazis” who have been arrested for attacking youngsters in a tram in the Bulgaria's capital.
Dimitar Lazarov, Vasil Pavlov, Matey Penev, Emil Aleksiev, Rosen Kanev, and Mario Abdel Gamal beat four youngsters between 17 and 23 years old in Sofia public transport tram on June 6.
The Court convened Friday with increased security measures. Even though a number of people flocked to the courthouse in order to attend the hearing, only relatives were allowed in.
An hour after the beginning of the trial, the Prosecution's Office delivered the protocols from interrogations and the expert's reports, which were previously declared “missing” by the defense.
The mother of Rosen Kanev, one of the defendants, stated that her entire family could guarantee that during the attack Rosen was home. She claimed the police came and arrested him from his room, seizing only his computer.
According to the defense, there were violations during the identification of the defendants. They also claim that the publications in the Bulgarian media have also influenced the Court's ruling.
The victims of the alleged neo-Nazis were on their way to a rally against the illegal detention of foreigners at the Special Center for Temporary Accommodation of Foreigners in Busmantsi, a Sofia suburb, widely known as the Bulgarian Guantanamo.
The Center has come under fierce criticism by NGOs and intellectuals for making locking people up pretty much the norm, holding people not temporarily but for years, providing no information how long they are going to be detained, imposing information blackout on the self-abuse and suicide attempts many detainees resort to.
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