Bulgarian prosecutors on Thursday charged 14 Muslim Roma with inciting racial hatred and spreading the ideas of the Islamic State jihadist group.
The 13 men and one woman from the central cities of Plovdiv and Pazardzhik were arrested at the end of March after a seven-month investigation, the chief prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
They have been charged with “preaching racial hatred” and “propagating war by spreading the ideas of the terrorist group Islamic State,” the statement said.
Twelve of the charged were placed under arrest and two released on bail, the office added.
A majority Orthodox Christian country, Bulgaria also has a 13 percent Muslim population, including ethnic Turks, Muslim Roma and Pomaks.
Pomacs are Slavs whose Christian ancestors were forced to convert to Islam during the country’s Ottoman domination.
— AFP
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