Ukrainian Suspected of Sofia Attack Behind Bars

A Ukranian charged with the attempted murder of a former Bulgarian security agent, Alexey Petrov, must remain in detention, the Sofia Court of Appeal decided on Tuesday.

Judges say the assumption that Roman Logvinenko participated in the attack is well founded and there is a danger he might abscond and commit another crime if he is released.

The suspect's lawyer, Vladimir Manolov, sought remand measures for his client on health grounds, as he suffers from Hepatisis C and had his spleen removed following a car crash in 2008.

Logvinenko, 47, is charged with orchestrating a grenade attack against Petrov's armoured car, which shook a Sofia neighborhood on the morning of October 29.

Petrov was unharmed because the assailants missed their target, Bulgaria's Deputy Prosecutor General, Borislav Sarafov, said on February 3.

The other three suspects, all Ukrainians, Maxim Chorniy, Artyom Tempinskiy and Yeven Balkov, have been charged in absentia and added to INTERPOL's Red Notice list and the Schengen Information System.

Police say the group planned the attack for 18 months. They studied Petrov's habits, his guards behaviour and the area where the attack took place.

Chorniy and Tempinskiy shot at the former security agent with two grenade launchers produced in Bulgaria for the Russian army.

Two people were given protected witness status in the investigation. According to Logvinenko's lawyer, the two witnesses Boyko Georgiev and Konstantin Buhlev, both Bulgarian citizens, actively participated in preparing the attack but later "traded for their freedom.

"Logvinenko asked Buhlev if he had people to kill Alexey Petrov - and this is where participation finished," Manolov reportedly said.

The grenade attack was not the...