Sofia Court of Appeal decided Thursday to leave in custody the two men detained over causing the death of the 17-year-old Roma boy Asparuh, who was beaten to death last week in Bulgaria's town of Samokov.

The judges decided the evidence is strong enough so that the defendants, Stefan Anguelov and Georgi Skrobanski, were left behind bars.

Two other under-aged boys were left under surveillance for taking part in the fight that erupted between two groups of teenagers - Roma and Bulgarians - at the central square of Samokov.

The two groups had a verbal conflict that quickly grew to a violent clash. The group of Bulgarian boys, who were later arrested is from the opposite side of town and may have never met Asparuh or his friends before.

It is still not clear what had exactly happened that night to cause the clash between the youngsters. The only known part of the story so far is that Asparuh collapsed on the ground after a strong blow and was later declared dead by the paramedics, who arrived on the spot.

The incident in which Asparuh was killed is not based on any ethnic prejudice, the Samokov authorities assured, but the Roma population in the town was put on high alert. They even went out on protest.

The number of police patrols in the town was raised and gendarmerie was sent to prevent escalation of the social pressure.

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