BULGARIA’S ATAKA PARTY LEADER SIDEROV GUILTY IN THE VARNA AIRPORT CASE

The leader of the nationalist party “Ataka”, Volen Siderov pleaded guilty and reached a fifth plea agreement with the Bulgarian prosecutor’s office in relation to the charges of hooliganism and assaulting a police officer in the incidents at Varna Airport in January 2014.

Ataka leader was sentenced in 2016 to a probation of a year and 2 months of and 15% deductions from his monthly salary.

On 21st of April, the court will sit to consider the consolidation of the various penalties against Siderov, taking into account all the sentences in the series of trials.

In January 2014, on a flight from the capital city of Sofia to the coastal city of Varna, Siderov had an argument and verbally assaulted fellow passengers, including a French diplomat. Later he had a row with a man on the airport shuttle bus. Siderov and other members of Ataka party got involved in a new argument in front of the terminal at Varna Airport. A young man and a policeman were injured during the incident.