A court in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, ordered five teenagers to remain in custody in connection with the killing of a 37-year-old man who investigators say was lured to a meeting through social media and assaulted for more than an hour.
Ten teenagers aged 14 to 17 were detained during the inquiry. Prosecutors charged five of them — three boys and two girls — with murder committed jointly in a particularly cruel manner and with alleged hooligan and sexual motives. Three of the charged teenagers were from Plovdiv, one from Stara Zagora and one from the village of Stroevo.
The Plovdiv District Court held the custody hearing behind closed doors because the accused are minors. Judges cited the alleged cruelty of the offence in ordering continued detention. A remand decision determines custody while a case proceeds; it is not a finding of guilt.
Investigators said the group imitated online “paedophile hunter” groups. A meeting was arranged at the Youth Hill area through an account operated by a 17-year-old girl who presented herself as 15. Authorities allege that the teenagers attacked the man after he arrived.
The victim suffered ruptures to his lungs, liver and kidneys as well as traumatic brain injuries, according to the case account. Despite those injuries, he reached the foot of the hill without assistance and was taken to hospital. He died several hours later.
The victim was identified as Georgi Kuzev, from Krichim. At a vigil in his hometown, relatives rejected accusations that he was a paedophile and called for justice and the maximum available sentences. Their statements challenge the premise attributed to the accused group but do not themselves decide the evidence in the criminal case.
The legal process will have to address the alleged roles of each teenager. The joint charge does not establish that all five performed the same acts, and the supplied report did not describe individual conduct, identify defence lawyers or include responses from the accused. It also did not say why five of the 10 detained teenagers were charged while the others were not.
Because the defendants are minors and the hearing was closed, public information remained limited to the prosecution's allegations, the reported injuries and the custody ruling. The court's decision keeps the five charged teenagers detained while investigators and prosecutors develop the case. Questions about intent, individual responsibility and the asserted motives remain matters for evidence and eventual judicial determination, not conclusions established by the remand order. The ages across the wider detained group ranged from 14 to 17.
