site.btaBulgarian Authorities Deny Reports that Ansbach Attacker Was Due for Deportation to Bulgaria

Bulgarian Authorities Deny Reports that  Ansbach Attacker Was Due for Deportation to Bulgaria

Sofia, July 25 (BTA) - The Bulgarian authorities Monday denied reports that the Ansbach attacker was due for deportation to Bulgaria. "There is no legal ground for deportation to Bulgaria of the Ansbach attacker," Petya Purvanova, the head of Bulgaria's State Agency for Refugees, told the press.

A spokesman for Germany's interior ministry was quoted by Deutsche Welle and other news outlets as saying earlier Monday that the alleged attacker, a refugee from Syria, was slated to be deported to Bulgaria.

Purvanova said that the man stayed in Bulgaria for a period from the end of 2013 to the middle of 2014. He was granted humanitarian status and the right to move freely in the territory of the European Union. In September 2014 the German authorities informed Bulgaria that he had applied for protection there and asked whether he could be deported to Bulgaria under the Dublin Regulation. The Bulgarian authorities replied that there was no legal ground for that, Purvanova said.