Two further arrests after beating of ethnic Turkish Bulgarian in Sofia
Police in Sofia have made two further arrests in connection with the serious assault of a Bulgarian man of Turkish ethnicity in the Bulgarian capital city, in what allegedly was a case of the victim being mistaken for a refugee.
The beating, which has left Georgi “Miten” Dimitrov (28) in a coma, took place in Pirotska Street on the night of November 9. A group who had failed in an attempt to force their way into a hostel where migrants were living came on Dimitrov and attacked him, inflicting serious head injuries.
Five or six men were said to be involved in the assault.
Two, both in their 20s and residents of Sofia, were arrested on November 10 and a further two, also in their 20s, were taken into custody and put in 72-hour detention, the Interior Ministry said on November 11. The two held in the first round of arrests have been charged with attempted murder.
One of the two held in the second set of arrests has a previous record for wilful damage to property, theft and hooliganism, the ministry said.
Meanwhile, an 18-year-old man from Mali was treated in hospital after being found injured near Bankya on the night of November 10. The man told police he had been beaten up by two strangers. It was not immediately clear whether this also was a racist assault.
In recent days, a woman from Africa was assaulted at a tram stop in Sofia, a few days after a Syrian refugee was beaten and stabbed by two Bulgarian-speaking men near a refugee centre in the capital city.
(Photo: foxumon/sxc.hu)
