The Sofia City Prosecution Office brought five people to trial for participation in an organized criminal group, smuggling and the murder of 18 Afghan citizens, its press centre said on Tuesday. 

On February 17, 2023, the bodies of 18 illegal migrants, who had apparently suffocated to death, were found on a truck near the village of Lokorsko (16 km north of Sofia). 

The indictment states that 52 Afghans were loaded into a truck from the area of the village of Zidarovo, Burgas Region, Bulgarian News Agency reported.

According to the prosecution, two of the defendants saw that the Afghans could not breathe normally because they were pressed tightly together, but they closed the lids of the containers, fastened their seat belts and drove off.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that the United States government will not rest until all Americans detained in Afghanistan are brought home.

“The United States is pleased to welcome home Faye Hall. President of the United States’ commitment to the American people is clear — we will not rest until all Americans detained in Afghanistan, and held hostage around the world, are brought home,” Rubio wrote on X.

The news of Fay Hall’s release was announced three days ago by former US special envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad.

She had been reportedly detained in February.

US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told a news conference Monday that the US government’s “highest priority is the safety and security of the American people, wherever they may be.”

Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office has submitted a legal request to temporarily suspend the ban on the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), officially designated as a terrorist organization in Russia, state news agency TASS reported Monday.

According to the Supreme Court’s press service, the court has accepted the administrative claim concerning the suspension of the IEA’s status on Russia’s federal list of banned terrorist groups. A closed-door hearing is scheduled for April 17.

The move follows a law signed by President Vladimir Putin in December 2024 that permits the temporary suspension of such bans under specific conditions.

Leonid Slutsky, chair of the State Duma’s foreign affairs committee and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), has said the legislative change paves the way for Russia to officially engage with the IEA, which currently governs Afghanistan.

Under the revised legal framework, Russian courts may approve suspension of a ban if the prosecutor general or a deputy presents evidence that an organization has ceased terrorist activities and propaganda. Once a ruling is issued, it must be forwarded to the Federal Security Service (FSB) within five days to update the national terrorist registry.

The IEA has been listed as a banned terrorist organization in Russia since 2003. However, Moscow has recently sought to expand diplomatic and economic ties with it, despite the legal restrictions on formal engagement.