Bulgarian Vigilante Migrant Hunter Acquitted on All Charges

A Bulgarian court on Tuesday acquitted Petar Nizamov, the man who made headlines last year after detaining three Afghan migrants, tying their hands with a plastic strap, of all charges.

Prosecutors had demanded at least 2 years of imprisonment for Nizamov, whose own footage of the citizen's arrests released on Facebook sparked controversy both in Bulgaria and abroad.

But several key witnesses had changed testimony, explaining they could not remember anything well enough. Therefore the court failed to ascertain that it was Nizamov who tied the migrants with plastic straps. 

Nizamov, known in Bulgaria by the nickname Perata, said after the ruling he would continue to protect the border.

Vigilante migrant hunters gained notoriety when they started patrolling along the borders and performing the so-called citizen's arrests, detaining migrants who had crossed into Bulgaria.