Sofia Court of Appeal is to try Tuesday the case against the Croatian national Robert Matanic, charged with the murder of three Bulgarian underworld bosses.

The court sitting comes about a week after the judges ruled that Matanic should be kept in detention.

The Croatian citizen is suspected to be a leader of the assassination squad that executed Dimitar Hristov, Kaloyan Savov and Zhivko Mitev in a shootout on June 4, 2004.

Matanic will also be tried over the attempted murder of Vladimir Gamanov and Stefan Zhelezarov, who were injured in the shooting.

After the incident, the assailants, dressed like priests, escaped unhurt from the scene of the crime, a cafe near a big hotel in Sofia.

Matanic is also suspected to be involved in the murder of one of the leading Bulgarian mobsters in the past years Milcho "Baj Mile" Bonev in 2004.

The Croatian national has been extradited to Bulgaria from Serbia on August 31. He has been in prison there since 2005, when he was arrested on suspicions of smuggling weapons and possession of firearms.

He is also thought to have been a close associate of the Serbian Zemun crime clan, which orchestrated and carried out the assassination Serbian PM Zoran Djindjic

Matanic has also been arrested repeatedly in his native Croatia on charges of illegal possession of firearms and blackmail.

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