Bulgarian-Turkish Party Casts Doubt on Dogan Assault Expert Reports

The expert reports in the investigation of the attempt on the life of Bulgarian ethnic Turkish leader Ahmed Dogan were ready in just a few hours, which casts serious doubts on their objectivity, stated Lyutvi Mestan, Dogan's successor as the chairman of Bulgaria's ethnic Turkish party DPS.

Ahmed Dogan, founder and leader of the DPS party ("Movement for Rights and Freedoms"), was the target of an attack right on the floor of a party conference on Saturday by 25-year-old Oktay Enimehmedov, also a Bulgarian citizen from ethnic Turkish origin. However, the gas pistol that Enimehmedov pointed at Dogan's head misfired.

"Strangely enough, the expert reports were ready in just a few hours... they said that the gas pistol used by the attacker was not technically a gun and its bullets could not technically cause a serious injury except for a hearing damage, regardless of the distance," Mestan stated at a special news conference Tuesday.

He insisted on behalf of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms that Bulgaria's Chief Prosecutor's Office take over the entire investigation of the Dogan Assault case from the Interior Ministry.

"We don't accept the expert reports that forced the Prosecutor's Office to reduce the charges against Enimehmedov from attempted murder to hooliganism," Mestan stated at a news conference Tuesday afternoon, shortly after the Sofia Regional Court left 25-year-old wannabe assassin in permanent custody.

According to the new DPS leader, the expert reports which concluded that Enimehmedov technically had no way of killing Ahmed Dogan with his gas pistol and the three bullets inside it, one of which was filled with pepper spray and the other two were blanks, have marred the entire investigation because they produced lighter charges.

Mestan has urged Bulgaria's Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov to assign new probes to a European body, and threatened to consult a European forensic laboratory should the Bulgarian judiciary fail to do that.

Enimehmedov is charged with making a murder threat and hooliganism "characterized by particular audacity".

Initially, the Prosecutor's Office wanted to charge him with a murder attempt but the charge was later modified as it become know that with his gas pistol the young attacker technically had no chance of killing Dogan.

Bulgaria's Chief Prosecutor, Sotir Tsatsarov, and his Deputy, Borislav Sarafov, requested the strongest measure – permanent detention for Oktay Enimehmedov on grounds he might flee, hide and/or commit another crime, and for his own safety.

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