Two Bulgarians Probed For Allegedly Preaching Radical Islam
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AFP)
Bulgaria's State Agency for National Security, or DANS, said Monday it was investigating two Bulgarians for allegedly spreading radical Islam.
Local mayor Ahmed Bashev and Koranic teacher Murat Boshnak from the Muslim-populated southwestern region of Garmen were summoned for questioning at the agency's Sofia headquarters Monday morning at the prosecution's demand, spokeswoman Zoya Dimitrova told AFP.
Investigators are looking into whether the pair violated Bulgaria's penal code related to inciting hostility and racial or religious hatred, she said.
Bashev and Boshnak will also be questioned for alleged assassination threats against right-wing parliamentary deputy Yane Yanev, who recently said Islamic foundations from Saudi Arabia were subsidizing mosque building and religious classes in the region. Yanev also accused Boshnak of forcing girls to wear headscarves at school.
Those allegations were dismissed by the head of the non-governmental Center for the Study of Minorities, Antonina Zhelyazkova.
"We have studied the region over a year and a half and we did not witness such phenomena," she told the national radio, suggesting Yanev was exploiting fears of radical Islam for political ends ahead of July general elections.
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