3 Men Charged For Blast in Weapons Depot in Bulgaria's Chelopechene

The first explosions in Chelopechene were heard all over Sofia and shattered the windows of thousands of buildings in the area. Photo: BGNES

Three army officers were indicted for the blast in the Chelopechene weapons depot near Sofia, which took place in July 2008. 

On Friday the Sofia regional military prosecution filed in court the charges against Lieutenant General Rumen Tsokov who in 2008 has been the army's chief quartermaster, the former commander of the Chelopechene army base Reserve Major Miroslav Mitov and the former commander of the army's logistics brigade Reserve Colonel Dimitar Petrov. 

The three are accused of failure to carry out their duties, which led to grave consequences. According to the prosecution, the accused must be held responsible for the fact that considerable quantities of explosives were not destroyed and were not properly stored. 

If found guilty, each of the three can face up to eight years in prison.

The explosions in the Chelopechene base started early in the morning of July 3, 2008 and continued for several days. The loudest were heard all over Sofia and the neighbouring villages. They shattered the windows of thousands of buildings in the area and scattered tons of explosives and shrapnel in the surrounding fields. The cleanup operation took several years.

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