Bulgaria charges citizen over alleged participation in terrorism abroad
Bulgaria’s Prosecutor’s Office said on July 2 that a citizen that it alleged had travelled several times to Syria and taken part in armed actions by jihadist groups had been charged under the Penal Code with participation in terrorist crimes abroad.
“It has been established that the person’s father is still the leader of one of these groups and it was he who radicalised him and attracted him to terrorist activities in Syria,” the statement said.
The accused had gone to Syria several times since 2015, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.
The statement followed a joint counter-terrorist operation in the cities of Bourgas and Vratsa on July 1 by Bulgaria’s State Agency for National Security and the Chief Directorate for Combating Organised Crime.
Material evidence relevant to the investigation was found during searches of addresses in Bourgas, the statement said.
Twenty people were questioned as witnesses, nine of them in front of a judge.
The accused is being held in 72-hour custody. The Special Prosecutor’s Office will ask the Special Criminal Court to remand him in custody.
The Prosecutor’s Office said that so far there was no evidence that the accused had participated in the preparation of terrorist attacks in Bulgaria.
(Photos: Prosecutor’s Office)
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