Bulgaria: Man dies as result of bombing of Euroroma office

On Sunday, 29 July, Malin Iliev passed away in a military hospital in Sofia. Iliev was severely injured when a bomb placed in front of the headquarters of the Euroroma political party in the town of Sandanski exploded. His funeral was held yesterday.

The explosion occurred on 29 June of this year, when Iliev, a Romani candidate for the party in municipal elections, went to remove a suspicious package that had been placed in front of the party headquarters. The explosion separated one arm from his body and he was transported to a local hospital in critical condition.

Four youths have been arrested on suspicion of perpetrating the bomb attack. All of them belong to a local nationalist group.

Euroroma is the largest political party representing the interests of Romani people in Bulgaria. It has been working since December 1998. Its membership is not based on ethnicity, and Bulgarians and Turks are also party members in addition to Romani people.The 8 April Movement stated in a declaration published previously on Romabuzzmonitor.com, Sandanski is the first town in history to have elected a 100 % Romani town council.