The Sofia City Court is to hold a first sitting on the trial against Oktay Enimehmedov, the man who pointed a gas gun at influential Bulgarian politician Ahmed Dogan in January 2013.

Enimehmedov has been charged with attempted murder, according to reports of the Bulgarian National Television (BNT).

According to the indictment, he tried three times to shoot a gas pistol at Ahmed Dogan, Honorary Chairman of the ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) party, but the weapon misfired.

An expert witness report proved that the shot could have been fatal in the case of point-blank shot from a distance of up to 1cm to the skull, neck, or heart.

Enimehmedov, who is currently in custody, may get a life sentence for the offence.

Apart from that, he has also been charged with disrespectful behavior and breach of public order for interrupting Dogan's speech, for which he faces a penalty of up to 5 years in prison.

Wednesday's sitting of the Sofia City Court on the case starts at 10 am.

Parallel to the trial against Enimehmedov, an investigation is underway into claims of use of excessive force by the delegates at the DPS conference in the attempt to neutralize the attacker.

On January 19, police in Bulgaria detained Oktay Enimehmedov after he pointed a gun at Ahmed Dogan, then leader of the opposition predominantly ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) as he was delivering a speech at the party conference in the capital Sofia. No shots were fired.

Enimehmedov was heavily beaten by DPS delegates after the attack.

The young ethnic Turk stated that he had not actually intended to kill Dogan, but to scare him. The gun was established to have been a gas pistol.

He was initially expected to only face grave hooliganism charges.

However, experts told the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office that gas pistol shots could kill if fired at a range closer than one centimeter from the temple, mouth or eyes.

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