Two Bulgarians suspected of having painted “red hands” on the Shoah Memorial in Paris in May were handed over to justice in October, bringing to three the number of suspects imprisoned in France in this case, theAFP from a judicial source Thursday November 7, 2024.
Requested by theAFPa judicial source confirmed that a man named Georgi Filipov “was handed over on October 18 by the Bulgarian authorities, indicted and placed in pre-trial detention”.
His lawyer, Me Martin Vettes, indicated that this man born in July 1989 in Bulgaria “made a very short statement to the investigating judge to apologize for these acts which he does not deny having committed”.
A “very sensitive” file
On October 22, as indicated The Parisian mercredi, Kiril Milushev “was handed over by the Bulgarian authorities, indicted and placed in pre-trial detention” in France, according to a judicial source.
Me Camille di Tella, lawyer for this other Bulgarian whose placement in pre-trial detention was confirmed by the Paris Court of Appeal, mentioned “a very sensitive and very political issue”.
“These are simple tags, certainly not anywhere, but simple tags would never have resulted in pre-trial detention”she added.
In August, a third Bulgarian, Nikolay Ivanov, was handed over to France by Bulgaria and imprisoned, as had already been indicated by theAFP. His lawyer could not be reached by AFP.
35 tags
No less than 35 tags representing “red hands”, a symbol possibly linked to the lynching of Israeli soldiers in Ramallah in 2000, were painted on the night of May 13 to 14 on the Wall of the Righteous, outside the museum, where plaques bearing the names of the 3,900 men and women who helped save Jews during World War II are displayed.
In a document signed at the beginning of September consulted by theAFPthe Paris prosecutor's office explained that the three suspects had been able to be identified thanks to the analysis of video surveillance images, the suspects' telephone lines, flight reservations and a hotel.
In an interview with theAFP in August, Georgi Filipov said he had acted under the influence of alcohol, denying any religious motive. The three men gravitate “in far-right circles”according to the Bulgarian authorities.
According to several sources close to the matter interviewed, the avenue and motives of this possible foreign interference, mentioned as the motive for this action, have not yet been substantiated in the investigation.
