Acting Bulgarian Attorney General Borislav Sarafov joined the heads and senior officials of the prosecution services of Israel, EU member states, the US and other countries for a discussion of the legal aspects of counter-terrorism in international level, the Bulgarian prosecution service announced on Tuesday. The meeting in Tel Aviv was organized by the Israeli Ministry of Justice.

"We are obliged to fight against terrorism on behalf of the international community and the citizens of countries around the world who share the principles of justice and humanity," Israel's Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said at the beginning of the meeting.

For his part, Israel's State Prosecutor, Amit Aisman, emphasized the global importance of fighting terrorist organizations and the use of legal instruments in this process.

Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov emphasized Bulgaria's active role in counter-terrorism within the EU: guaranteeing the security of the Union's external borders and prosecuting perpetrators of terrorist attacks and members of radical groups.

Sarafov recalled that the perpetrators of a terrorist act at Burgas Sarafovo airport in 2012 have received the harshest punishments under Bulgarian law, although in their absence. "Bulgaria and its law enforcement institutions will continue to show zero tolerance to manifestations of radicalism," Sarafov added.

On July 18, 2012, a suicide bomber, identified as Mohamad Hassan El Husseini (a dual Lebanese-French citizen), blew himself up next to a bus carrying Israeli tourists at Sarafovo Airport in Burgas (on the Black Sea).

In September 2020, Hassan El Hajj Hassan, 28 (dual Lebanese-Canadian citizen) and Meliad Farah, 35 (dual Lebanese-Australian citizen), were sentenced to life imprisonment for terrorism, murder of six people (five Israeli vacationers and their Bulgarian driver), attempted murder of 35 people and damage to property (destruction of the bus in which the bomb exploded and another parked nearby).

The participants in the discussions got acquainted with numerous investigations carried out by the Israeli authorities in an attempt to close the financing channels of terrorist operations around the world.

As part of his working visit to Israel, Sarafov held talks with representatives of the US Department of Justice, senior officials of the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office of Germany and others./BTA/