Court allows lodging of civil claims for more than 100M leva in Bourgas Airport bombing case
Bulgaria’s special court that is to sit in the trial of two accused of involvement in the terrorist bombing of Bourgas Airport in July 2012 has allowed the lodging of civil claims against the accused of more than 100 million leva (about 50 million euro).
In the terrorist attack, five Israelis and a Bulgarian died, along with the bearer of the bomb. More than 30 people were seriously injured.
More than five years since the terrorist attack against the Israeli tourist group, the trial of the accused – Meliad Farah, holder of Australian and Lebanese citizenship, and Hassan El Hajj Hassan, a Canadian passport-holder – has yet to get underway. It had been scheduled to begin in September 2016 but has been postponed eight times since then.
A year since the first attempt, the court managed to properly summon the relatives of the victims in Israel and other witnesses. However, Bulgarian National Television said on September 20 that it was expected that the latest attempt would fail because lawyers would be absent.
While the court admitted the lodging of the civil claims for damages, it did not accept the lodging of a claim against terrorist group Hezbollah, on the grounds that in the 100-page indictment, the name of Hezbollah is not mentioned.
There are more than 50 claims, for various amounts from 22 000 to 100 000 leva. There were also claims based on lost future earnings, but these were not accepted.
It is expected that the next date on which an attempt will be made to start the trial will be November 15 or 16.
