PHOTOSPEAKS

VIDEO: Bulgarian Politician Escapes Assasination On Televised Speech

Published

12 years ago

January 20, 2013

epa03544261 A still grab from a broadcast by Bulgarian television channel BTV handed out by BTV on 19 January 2013 shows an unidentified man (R) pointing a gun at Ahmet Dogan (C), leader of the MRF party of the Turkish minority in Bulgaria, during a party conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, 19 January 2013. The leader of Bulgaria's opposition Movement for Rights and Freedoms escaped an apparent assassination attempt 19 January while addressing a party congress in Sofia, local media reported. The attacker pointed a gun at Dogan, but was prevented from firing, according to the reports. While security wrestled with the attacker, Dogan was tackled to the ground by his bodyguards. The oppositional Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) has deputies in the National Assembly in Sofia and in the EU parliament.

A top Bulgarian politician had a brush with death on Saturday after a gunman pointed a pistol at his head as he delivered a televised speech.

Ahmed Dogan escaped unscathed after falling to the ground as security tackled the gunman in front of stunned meeting hall of 3,000 people in the capital, Sofia. No shots were fired, but the Sofia Globe reports that sources say the gun might have jammed.

Dogan has led Bulgaria’s ethnic Turkish party for 25 years. He was in the middle of a speech to party members when a man in a black coat rushed the stage, holding a gun at arm’s length pointed directly in the face of the 58-year-old politician. Delegates and security jumped on the man, and television footage shows them beating, kicking and punching him….Watch the video when you continue!

Police arrested 25-year-old Oktai Enimehmedov, a Bulgarian man and ethnic Turk from the Black Sea town of Burgas. Enimehmedov was also carrying two knives, officials said.

It was unclear how he got past security and into the meeting hall. His motive was not known.

Bulgarian officials say Enimehmedov has a criminal record for drug possession, robberies and hooliganism.
Saturday’s incident was the most serious attack on a politician in post-communist Bulgaria since ex-prime Minister Andrei Lukanov was shot dead near his home in 1996.