Sliven Military Court Postpones Notorious Maybach Trial

In December 2007, two Germans and a Bulgarian Major were arrested while trying to steal a Second World War German “Maybach” tank . File Photo

The Sliven Military court postponed Thursday the trial against two Germans and one Bulgarian charged with stealing a vintage Maybach tank.

The new trial of 36-year old Thomas Gmainer, 67-year old Matheus Mayer, together with the Bulgarian Major Aleksey Petrov from the Yambol Military Unit was postponed for May 20, 2009 over missing documents involving one of the Germans' subpoena.

The information was provided by the Speaker of the Military Prosecutor's Office in Sliven, Colonel Hristo Tinev.

In November 2007 the two Germans, together with the Bulgarian Major dug up the Second World War German tank buried near the southern Bulgarian border and took it out of the country.

In December the suspects tried to steal another Maybach from the same region near the town of Yambol but were arrested by the police.

The tanks are property of Bulgaria's Defense Ministry.

The two German citizens were later released on bail, and at the end of February, 2008 disappeared mysteriously from the Tundzha Hotel in the city of Yambol, leaving behind all of their clothes and other belongings.

They have been detained in Germany with an European Arrest Warrant issued at the request of the Military Prosecutor's Office in the southeast Bulgarian city of Sliven, but were not extradited to Bulgaria and will be tried in their absence.

The Bulgarian Penalty Code provides from 3 to 15 years behind bars for similar crimes.

 

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