HEZBOLLAH Role Unmentioned in Charges For 2012 Bulgaria Terrorist Attack

The Bulgarian state prosecution has decided not to charge Hezbollah with involvement in the 2012 bomb attack at the Burgas airport that killed five Israelis and their Bulgarian bus driver and wounded 32 other Israelis, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

Instead, the prosecutor indicted the two men allegedly involved in the attack as if they were terrorists or even regular criminals who acted without connection to an organization. The word "Hezbollah" does not appear in the indictment.

In addition, the indictment does not mention standard terrorism offenses such as "acting as part of a terrorist organization" or connecting the murder offense to terrorism. Instead, it makes a brief reference to Bulgarian Penal Code Section 108(a) regarding disturbing the public order.

Under Section 108(a), anyone who by causing a "disturbance or fear among the population" or who threatens or forces "a competent authority... to perform or omit part of his/her duties, commits a crime," in addition to other crimes they may have committed.

Sources close to the case say that when the Bulgarian prosecutor on the case was confronted with these anomalies, he claimed that no one provided him with evidence demonstrating Hezbollah's involvement.

This, however, is in direct contradiction to evidence that came to light immediately after the attack. Bulgaria's interior minister at the time, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, said in 2012, "We have established that the two [accused] were members of the militant wing of Hezbollah." He also said, "There is data showing the financing and connection between Hezbollah and the two suspects."

In 2013, Tsvetanov's successor, Tsvetlin Yovchev, told reporters before a commemoration ceremony, "There are clear signs...