site.btaThree Foreigners Convicted in Plovdiv for Aiding Migrants' Illegal Passage through Bulgaria

Three foreigners who aided migrants to cross Bulgaria have been convicted in pre-trial proceedings instituted by the Regional Prosecution Office of Plovdiv, its press office said on Friday. The men are from Turkiye, Azerbaijan and Moldova. They were bound for Sofia when they were arrested on different days on the Trakia Motorway.

The Turkish citizen arrested on August 13 was given a conditional prison sentence of 2 years and 10 months, with five-year probation, and a BGN 5,000 fine. He was driving 23 migrants from Afghanistan in a tractor with a semi-trailer he does not own. A BGN 96,160 fine equivalent to the market value of the vehicle was also imposed.

An Azerbaijani national was convicted for driving a Syrian, a Palestinian and a Yemeni on August 23. He was given a conditional prison sentence of 18 months, with three-year probation, and a BGN 40,700 fine equivalent to the market value of the vehicle.

A 20-year-old Moldovan man was given a 23-month conditional prison sentence, with four-year probation, and a BGN 2,500 fine. He was arrested on August 14 while driving six Syrians and was fined BGN 3,474, the equivalent of the market value of the vehicle.

All three vehicles have been returned to their owners. The three persons were sentenced under plea bargain agreements approved by the Plovdiv Regional Court. The court rulings are unappealable.