site.btaPazardjik District Court Proceeds with Trial of 14 Defendants for Propagating ISIS Ideas

Pazardjik District Court Proceeds with Trial of 14 Defendants for Propagating ISIS Ideas

Pazardjik, South Central Bulgaria, February 25 (BTA) - Amidst tight security, the Pazardjik District Court Thursday proceeded with the trial of 14 defendants charged with professing religious-based hatred and propagating the ideas of the terrorist organization Islamic State (ISIS).

The defendants are from Pazardjik, Asenovgrad, Plovdiv and Smolyan (Southern Bulgaria), are aged between 34 and 45, and include one woman. They were apprehended in two successive raids of the State Agency for National Security (SANS) in the Roma neighbourhoods of the four cities about a year ago. Videos and a large quantity of literature were seized during searches of the defendants' homes.

The court panel, presided over by Judge Irina Djouneva, denied a motion from the defence lawyers to revert the case to the prosecution office for remedying irregularities.

The case will be heard according to the standard procedure because only two of the accused have asked for a fast-track trial.

bTV quoted the prosecution as arguing that the alleged cell leader, Ahmed Moussa, stated that Christians are "kindling wood for hell" and that "every true Muslim must go to Syria and fight on the side of Islamic State." The prosecution has received 80 pages of documents from Austrian prosecutors which allegedly prove Moussa's links with an Austrian terrorist organization. According to Nova Television, on several occasions Moussa met with ISIS leaders in Germany and Austria and declared there his affiliation to the group.

Moussa's wife Svetla Dimitrova argued that her husband is innocent and that the indictment is full of lies. She said that Moussa was in Austria and in Germany years ago as a manual worker.

Three of the defendants have confessed in custody, Nova Television said. They testified against the rest of the group and provided details on how they propagated the ISIS ideas in the mosques and online. Their statements have been corroborated by six SANS witnesses with undisclosed identity.