A Bulgarian court has jailed two men of Lebanese origin for life on Monday over a 2012 bus bombing that killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian driver and has been blamed by Bulgarian authorities on the Lebanese Shi’ite Muslim group Hezbollah.
The two men were tried in absentia over the July 18, 2012 attack at Burgas Airport on the Black Sea and their whereabouts was not known.
The Specialized Criminal Court found Meliad Farah, 39, an Australian citizen, and Hassan El Hajj Hassan, 32, a Canadian citizen, guilty of being accomplices and ordered them to pay compensation to families of the victims and the injured.
A third man, of dual Lebanese-French citizenship, was killed in the attack when he blew up a bomb in a backpack he was carrying close to a bus at the airport.
Hezbollah has denied involvement in the attack, which also injured more than 35 Israeli tourists.
A five-member panel ruled that the two men had helped in the attack, which was aimed at causing confusion and fear among the peoples of Bulgaria and Israel.
The verdict can be appealed within 15 days.
