Warrants issued in Sofia

The Sofia City Court approved European arrest warrants on Monday, 19 October, against two 19-year-old German nationals suspected of setting fire to Starlink antennas. The request came from prosecutors, and the court said the material gathered gave reasonable grounds to suspect the two men. Their court-appointed lawyers have said they will challenge the decision, which can be appealed within three days. Prosecutors had charged the pair on 14 October and placed them on the wanted list from 16 October. The court put its finding on the evidence this way.

“The evidence gathered makes it possible to conclude that there are reasonable grounds to suspect the involvement of the two defendants.”

What prosecutors allege

Prosecutors say the two men set the fire on the evening of 9 October, at about 22:25 local time, at a site with 18 antennas in a mountainous area south of Sofia. According to the case material, three antennas were destroyed entirely, two were partly burned and three more were damaged. Prosecutors say the suspects entered Bulgaria from Serbia that day in a Volkswagen with German plates that belongs to a third person, and gave tourism as the reason for their trip. They left through the same border crossing that evening, at about 23:55, having been in the country only a few hours. The defence disputes the identification and argues that surveillance footage does not allow it, while prosecutors say the perpetrators wore masks and gloves. The court nonetheless found the testimony and evidence sufficient at this stage.

Destroyed entirely3

Partly burned2

Damaged3

Destroyed entirely

3 antennas

Partly burned

2 antennas

Damaged

3 antennas

Data from the article text

Charges and the timeline

Prosecutors charged the pair on 14 October, and the suspects have been sought since 16 October. Deliberate arson carries a prison term of three to 12 years under the charge. The court's approval of European arrest warrants on 19 October is the latest step in the case. The key dates are set out in the timeline below.

Bulgarian officials and the opposition

Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev confirmed the arson on 14 October. DANS head Plamen Tonchev said he was working on the assumption that it was deliberate sabotage and that similar acts could not be ruled out in future. Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said police had added protection for facilities such as Starlink stations, though he stressed that their security rests with the owners. The opposition coalition Democratic Bulgaria reported the fire and said 11 of 17 antennas linking to SpaceX, which Ukraine uses, were deliberately set alight on 9 October, a count that differs from prosecutors' figures. Opposition parties do not rule out sabotage and suspect a link to Russia.

Links to Poland, Germany and Lithuania

The Bulgarian warrants follow a Polish case. A Starlink ground station south of Warsaw in central Poland caught fire on 23 September, and Polish officials believe Russia was behind it. Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the attack an act of "hybrid warfare", and Poland's domestic intelligence agency claimed Russia cooperated with organised crime elements in Germany. In the week of 12 October, German police detained four people, three men and a woman, two of them Turkish nationals, and arrests were made in Nürtingen near Stuttgart. On Sunday, 18 October, Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius said Russia was likely behind an attempted arson at premises in Vilnius that store Starlink satellite communications equipment. Ukraine's armed forces use Starshield, a military-grade Starlink service, for battlefield communications.