Dozens of people, some on sedation and with attached feet, saved from “horrors” in Bulgaria, say the managers

Dozens of people were saved from two illegal care houses where they were subjected to brutal ill -treatment, Bulgarian officials announced on Saturday.

The Minister of Justice, Georgy Georgiev, described the facilities as “horrors of horrors” and the officials described how the victims were beaten, linked and under sedation.

Some 75 people were removed from two installations in the east of the country, which the owners had converted into health centers by offering “rooms for rent” for just over 400 euros per month.

THE The images published the ministry Deplorable conditions in the facilities as well as victims transported in ambulances.

Georgiev also presented an image to journalists who seemed to show elderly residents with their legs linked together, Local media reported. Nineteen people were saved from one place, and 56 in the other, according to local media.

The regional prosecutor’s office in the city of Stara Zagora said that five people had been arrested and that an investigation started “kidnapping, violence and negligence”.

“According to testimonies, an older woman had not left the establishment for four years,” the office said in a statement.

“Another resident, who tried to flee, was taken, beaten and left unconscious,” said the press release.

The Ministry of Justice added that some of those who saved had “their feet attached and had been under sedation” and were locked in rooms “without bedding, the window handles withdrawn from the outside world”.

Georgiev declared that inspections of nursing homes and hospices are underway to combat real estate fraud targeting vulnerable individuals, the The Bulgarian news agency reported.

“These revelations are linked to current surveys on mafia regimes of goods involving helpless people,” he said.

International organizations often criticize the poor state of health establishments in Bulgaria, the poorest country in the European Union.

The lack of facilities for the elderly has led to the development of illegal centers.

In November 2021, nine elderly people died in a fire in a nursing home near Varna and four others died in a similar incident in May 2022 in another installation of the same region.