Bat Yam Resident Arrested on Suspicion of Involvement in Murder in Bulgaria

In depth

Prof. Andrey Atanasov, 83, a lecturer at the University of Sofia, was brutally beaten in an elevator at a metro station in Sofia and died of his wounds in hospital. Bulgarian police opened an investigation following the murder.

About a month after the murder, a 32-year-old Bat Yam resident was arrested in Israel on suspicion of involvement in the act, in accordance with an international arrest warrant. The arrest was carried out as part of a joint investigation by the Israel Police and the Bulgarian police.

The suspect is expected to be brought before a court in Israel as part of extradition proceedings to Bulgaria. He is a pharmacist with no criminal record and a family man who lived neighboring the victim in Bat Yam. According to the suspicion, the act was committed out of greed.