site.btaUPDATED Man Charged with Assaulting Two Meteorologists in High-Mountain Weather Station Is Sent to Psychiatric Hospital under House Arrest

Sofia City Court ordered that a man charged with attacking two meteorologists in a high-mountain weather station, serve house arrest in a state psychiatric hospital in Sofia. He will be monitored there and will undergo examinations in order to establish whether he is fit to be held criminally liable.

Stoyan Stoyanov assaulted the two meteorologists in a bizarre act of aggression. He sneaked into the weather station via a third-floor window that he smashed. He assaulted the two with tongs and a stove spit. The victims escaped through a first-floor window and walked about four kilometers to Murgash chalet, where they sought help.

Several days ago Sofia Regional Court ordered that the man be put under house attest. The court decision was upheld by a second-instance court Tuesday. 

The defendant's mother said she is sorry for the pain the two victims had to suffer. She said that her son was a victim of aggression himself and that on his way to Sofia be was assaulted and survived several days in the mountain: alone, without food and clothes. She said that police were notified that her son had been missing two days before the Murgash attack. "The system doesn't work," she said, adding that her son's aggression was triggered by the assault on him. Stoyanov's lawyer, Todor Todorov, said that the prosecution service has refused to examine the complaint about the assault on Stoyanov and that a psychiatric examination has also been denied. He will move for a removal of the prosecutor working on the case because of bias.

A rally was held later on Tuesday in front of Sofia's Palace of Justice in support of the assault's victims.