SOFIA  - The man who pointed a gas pistol at the head of Bulgaria's Turkish minority party leader while he was speaking at a party conference will face hooliganism and death threat charges, prosecutors in Sofia said Sunday.

Police identified the attacker as 25-year-old Oktay Enimehmedov, an ethnic Turk from the eastern city of Burgas, who targeted Ahmed Dogan while he was addressing a conference of his liberal Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) party on Saturday. Deputy chief prosecutor Borislav Sarafov said Enimehmedov faces up to five years in prison on the hooliganism charge and up to six years in prison on the death threat charge. Dramatic video of the attack against the 58-year-old Bulgarian ethnic Turks leader quickly circulated online.
In the footage, Dogan can be seen swiping away his attacker's outstretched arm before any shot is fired. The weapon appears to have jammed. Several men in suits then wrestle the attacker to the ground before he is subjected to a drawn-out beating, in which he is repeatedly kicked and punched. Police experts examined the small handgun and said it would not have threatened Dogan's life, even if fired from close quarters. Gas pistols are mainly used for self defence and can fire tear gas cartridges. Police psychology institute chief Nedelcho Stoychev on Sunday said the attacker man did not intend to kill Dogan but only to frighten him and "get his five minutes of fame."
Enimehmedov feared he himself might die in the incident and left a letter that police found in his Sofia flat, Stoychev said.
Prosecutors are also considering whether to press charges against some of those captured on video kicking the prostrate assailant after he was disarmed, Sarafov said Sunday.
Dogan, who played a key role in Bulgaria's post-communist transition and won crucial rights for the country's 10-percent minority of ethnic Turks, announced his planned resignation hours after the attack.
He had led the MRF since its formation 23 years ago.