The case of the death of 18 refugees, who in February 2023 died of suffocation and were found in an abandoned truck near the Sofia village of Lokorsko, seriously stalled at its start. It was supposed to take place recently in the Sofia City Court. However, it turns out that it is not at all clear when the trial will be able to start on the merits.
Two of the defendants did not appear at the pre-trial hearing in the courtroom, and the Afghan embassy has not yet responded to how the relatives of the deceased, who have the right to be a party to the trial, can be notified. to become a party. Without them, in fact, the case cannot start. Now the court will try to find them with a court order through the Ministry of Justice. An attempt will also be made through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Five people have been brought to trial in the case. They are accused of participating in an organized crime group, "pipe-tampering" and the murder of 18 Afghan citizens. Viktor Kuzmov is accused of being an accomplice to the pipe-tampering and the leader of the organized crime group. According to the prosecutor's office, Hristiyan Dungarov, Atanas Atanasov, Valentin Hristov, Petar Yanev and Tacho Tachev - the owner of the truck - participated in it. Tachev died on June 3, 2023 and the investigation against him was terminated, BTA recalls.
In early July, Kuzmov, whose lawyer said that he had been urgently admitted to the hospital, did not appear in the courtroom. Petar Yanev also did not appear, having not given a reason for his absence, although he was regularly summoned. That is why the court ordered his forced delivery to the next trial session, which will be in October.
On February 17, 2023, 18 migrants who died of suffocation were found in an abandoned truck in the Sofia village of Lokorsko. Another 34 young men of Afghan origin, found near the truck, dehydrated, wet and freezing, were admitted to hospitals in the capital.
According to the prosecutor's office, two of the defendants saw that the Afghans could not breathe normally because they were pressed tightly against each other, but they closed the lids of the hiding places, tightened the transport belts and drove off in the truck. The deaths of the deceased occurred in a particularly painful manner, the prosecution claims.