The Regional Court in Bulgaria’s northern city of Pleven issued the maximum possible sentence for the murder of Milen Atanasov, an activist of the nationalist VMRO party.

The killers – Simeon Berkov and Nedyalko Atanasov, will serve a sentence of 18 years behind bars each and will both pay a BGN 50 000 fine to the relatives of the victim.

The rule comes 5 years after the death of the young man, who was beaten and robbed in December 2005. The two killed him over BGN 100 and a gold chain.

VMRO in Pleven say they are satisfied with the verdict, after years of postponement of the trial and protest rallies in the city, organized by the party.

In 2009, the same court sentenced Berkov to 18 years of jail time, but declared Atanasov not guilty. The rule was appealed before the Appellate Court in the city of Veliko Tarnovo, which returned the case back to Pleven.

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