The supporters of ultra-nationalist party Ataka, who were shouting “mafia”, “innocent” and “Volen” during the latest court hearing in the trial against Ataka leader Volen Siderov on May 7, were not organised, Siderov’s attorney Marin Markovski told Bulgarian National Television on May 9.

All the speculation that the supporters were there to hinder the hearing so that the case would be dropped because of the expiration of its statute of limitations were nonsense, Markovski said. Still, on May 7, the court postponed the trial for the fifth time.

According to Markovski, Siderov himself had said that he was worried his supporters could become “more temperamental.” He advised them to be calmer if they wanted to assist the court heraing. But mediapool.bg reported, however, that Siderov too was shouting in the court hall, claming that the court was ordered to find him guilty and that his family was being harassed.

Siderov and his wife Kapka Siderova are charged with giving false testimonies in relation to an incident that happened on April 7 2006 on Trakiya Highway, when the car he was driving collided with another vehicle. The driver of the second car sclaimed that he was assaulted after a quarrel with Siderov and Ataka member of Parliament Pavel Chernev and Siderov allegedly waved a gun at Ivanov.

Later, Siderov claimed the incident was an attempt on his life. Siderov and Chernev's testimonies about the incident changed substantially over time. Several weeks after the incident, Chernev left Ataka and said that he was asked by Siderov to lie to the police, which launched a probe against Ataka's leader.

*Read The Sofia Echo's editorial comment on the issue here.