SOFIA: A Bulgarian man fighting extradition to France for defacing the Paris Holocaust memorial in May denied Wednesday that he had acted out of racial motives, telling AFP it was “just hooliganism.”
France issued European arrest warrants for three Bulgarians after red hands were painted on the Paris Holocaust Memorial’s Wall of the Righteous, which lists 3,900 people honored for protecting Jews during the Nazi occupation of France in World War II.
Two Bulgarians, identified by a Sofia court as 35-year-old Georgi Filipov and 27-year-old Kiril Milushev, were detained in the Bulgarian capital in July. A third suspect was detained in Croatia.
A Sofia court on Wednesday held a hearing on whether Filipov should be extradited to France, but postponed a decision until September 26.
“I took part in this but not in the sense that they say in the media, it had nothing to do with chauvinism, racism or anything else of the sort,” Filipov told AFP before the hearing.
“I have nothing against anyone there, or the buildings. I had simply drunk a lot of alcohol. This was just hooliganism,” he said.
He told AFP that he had planned to go to Paris “to see the Eiffel tower.”
“We were a bunch of drunk people, someone proposed to do something like that and I didn’t refuse, which I regret.”
He insisted he “had no idea whatsoever” what the red hands symbolize, adding that he had no alternative to running away after coming to his “senses the next day.”
On Monday, a regional court ordered the extradition of Milushev to France.
Bulgaria’s state security agency (SANS) said in July that the suspects “are known to gravitate around Bulgarian groups that profess far-right extremist ideology” and the agency is working to identify the instigators of the May 14 vandalism.
French prosecutors are investigating the men for participating in a criminal group to prepare a crime as well as damaging a protected historical building for national, ethnic, racial or religious motives.
Bulgaria suspect in Paris Holocaust memorial defacement denies racial motives
https://arab.news/m3ygg
Bulgaria suspect in Paris Holocaust memorial defacement denies racial motives
- France issued European arrest warrants for three Bulgarians after red hands were painted on the Paris Holocaust Memorial’s Wall of the Righteous
- Two Bulgarians, identified by a Sofia court as 35-year-old Georgi Filipov and 27-year-old Kiril Milushev, were detained in the Bulgarian capital in July
Blair dropped from Gaza ‘peace board’ after Arab objections
- Former UK PM was viewed with hostility over role in Iraq War
- He reportedly met Netanyahu late last month to discuss plans
LONDON: Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has been withdrawn from the US-led Gaza “peace council” following objections by Arab and Muslim countries, The Guardian reported.
US President Donald Trump has said he would chair the council. Blair was long floated for a prominent role in the administration, but has now been quietly dropped, according to the Financial Times.
Blair had been lobbying for a position in the postwar council and oversaw a plan for Gaza from his Tony Blair Institute for Global Change that involved Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
Supporters of the former British leader cited his role in the Good Friday Agreement, which ended decades of conflict and violence in Northern Ireland.
His detractors, however, highlighted his former position as representative of the Middle East Quartet, made up of the UN, EU, Russia and US, which aimed to bring about peace in the Middle East.
Furthermore, Blair’s involvement in the Iraq War is viewed with hostility across the Arab world.
After Trump revealed his 20-point plan to end the Israel-Hamas war in September, Blair was the only figure publicly named as taking a potential role in the postwar peace council.
The US president supported his appointment and labeled him a “very good man.”
A source told the Financial Times that Blair’s involvement was backed by the US and Israel.
“The Americans like him and the Israelis like him,” the person said.
The US plan for Gaza was criticized in some quarters for proposing a separate Gaza framework that did not include the West Bank, stoking fears that the occupied Palestinian territories would become separate polities indefinitely.
Trump said in October: “I’ve always liked Tony, but I want to find out that he’s an acceptable choice to everybody.”
Blair is reported to have held an unpublicized meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late last month to discuss plans.
His office declined to comment to The Guardian, but an ally said the former prime minister would not be sitting on Gaza’s “board of peace.”
