During the operation of the National Security Agency and the police in Plovdiv, objects were found that suggest ideologies prohibited by law - among them swastikas. 18 persons belonging to the international neo-Nazi organization "Blood and Honor" were detained. There are no minors among them. There is only one minor, who is 17 years old - a girl. Among those arrested are also those related to those who attended the murder on the Youth Hill. This was announced by the chief of the police in Plovdiv, Senior Commissioner Vasil Kostadinov.
According to him, among those detained is one of the two perpetrators of the beating of two Nepalese citizens, as well as his brother and father. Among those captured are three girls. Some of those arrested have criminal records. All were detained for 24 hours. According to the commissioner, all live in Plovdiv, but not all are from this city. Among them are people with different professions and interests, and there are no unemployed people, there are also several students. The group has been meeting for two years.
He also commented on NOVA's information that lawyer Stoyan Memtsov attempted to prevent law enforcement from entering the premises. Kostadinov explained that the lawyer advised the tenant of the establishment where the raid was carried out, during the search, not to cooperate with the investigation. The tenant himself was also detained. According to Kostadinov, the detainees met periodically at the location after prior arrangement.
The Plovdiv District Prosecutor's Office is leading the investigation into the case. In 2023, a pre-trial investigation was conducted on the same topic and for the same place, but it was terminated.
We recall that on August 15, during a joint operation by the police and the National Security Agency in Plovdiv, 16 people were detained, for whom, according to information from NOVA, connections to the group connected to the murder of 37-year-old Georgi Kuzev are being checked. During the operation, a place used for gatherings of the group was broken into, where Nazi symbols and fascist signs were found.
The operation is part of the actions of the services against neo-Nazi groups and fascist organizations.
The operation followed the investigation into the brutal murder of Georgi Kuzev on the Youth Hill in Plovdiv. Three boys and two girls between the ages of 14 and 17 were detained for the crime. The court left all five in custody, and the subsequent appeal of the two girls' measures did not lead to their release.
According to the data presented in court, Kuzev was subjected to a beating and abuse that lasted more than an hour. The teenagers said that they burned him with cigarettes, shaved his eyebrows and tried to strangle him. They also took 30 euros from him, which they later used to buy food. Part of the violence was filmed and spread on social networks.
The investigation found that a 17-year-old girl from Stara Zagora presented herself as a 15-year-old and arranged a meeting with Kuzev. The remaining defendants are three young men from Plovdiv and one from the village of Stroevo, two of whom do not attend school.
According to investigators, the teenagers imitated groups posing as “pedophile hunters“ and perceived Kuzev as such. However, this does not change the nature of the subsequent violence, in which the man was inflicted with extremely severe injuries - lacerations to the lung, liver and kidneys, as well as severe craniocerebral trauma.
Despite his condition, the 37-year-old man managed to get down from the Youth Hill on his own. He was later found helpless at the foot and taken to hospital, where he died a few hours after the attack. The investigation into the murder and the subsequent operation against groups that are being investigated for neo-Nazi and fascist activities are ongoing.