After a ‘paedophile hunt’ by teenagers in Plovdiv resulted in a livestreamed murder, police are trying to crack down on a neo-Nazi subculture influenced by Russia’s far-right skinhead movement. The sadistic murder of a 37-year-old man by a group of teenagers in the city of Plovdiv has sparked a heated debate about neo-Nazi influence on local youth and highlighted the issue of vigilante activity in Bulgaria. Georgi Kuzev, from the small town Krichim, died of his injuries on August 5, several hours after a beating that was partially livestreamed on TikTok by teenagers who had concocted a scheme to track, lure and then attack alleged paedophiles. Kuzev was lured to meet a 17-year-old girl who had posed as a 15-year-old in their correspondence. Five teenagers, three boys and two girls, have been charged with murder. However, pictures from the attack which made their way into the media suggest there may have been a larger group of teenagers involved in the attack on Kuzev. The pictures in which the teenagers pose next to Kuzev’s bloodied body also give a new reading of the events: all of the teenagers are making the gesture of a clenched fist with the thumb bent or pointed upward and then inward. Called the “Tesak gesture”, it is associated with Maxim Martsinkevich (1984-2020), a notorious Russian neo-Nazi activist who was nicknamed Tesak (meaning “Hatchet” or “Cleaver”). The gesture became an ideological symbol of violent, vigilante-style and extremist behaviour against people accused of being involved with minors. It also became a symbol of support for violence against marginalised sexual and ethnic groups, which overlaps with the practices of white power skinhead subcultures. (…) Numerous groups, predominantly on Telegram, are still posting content influenced by Simeonov and Tesak about capturing alleged paedophiles in different Bulgarian towns. On TikTok, similar activities are often accompanied by hashtags with Simeonov’s name, probably for him to see what he inspired.
via balkan insight: Vigilante Murder Raises Fears of Russian Neo-Nazi Influence in Bulgaria
siehe dazu auch: Bulgarian police arrest 18 in Plovdiv linked to neo-Nazi ‘Blood and Honour’. (…) He said that none of those had been present at the murder of Georgi Kuzev on Mladeshki Hulm, but were there were people with links to those who had been present at the murder. Kostadinov was referring to the vicious killing of Kuzev by a group of youths who allegedly were inspired by a Russian neo-Nazi. (…) The connection between the two young men who assaulted the Nepalese citizens – who are long-term residents of Plovdiv – and the group from the Mladeshki Hulm killing was established during the investigation into the murder of Kuzev. The attack on the Nepalese citizens was also captured on video
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