Bulgaria's Pernik Police Chief Probed over Teen Murder

Crime | January 16, 2012, Monday // 16:20
Bulgaria's Pernik Police Chief Probed over Teen Murder: Bulgaria's Pernik Police Chief Probed over Teen Murder Deputy Prime Minister, and Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, has signed an order to launch disciplinary proceeding against the Head of the Pernik Anti-mafia Unit over his actions in a teen murder case. Photo by BGNES

A disciplinary proceeding has been launched against the Head of the Pernik Unit of the Directorate for Combatting Organized Crime, the Bulgarian Interior Ministry announced Monday.

The order has been signed by Deputy Prime Minister, and Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, on grounds of information that the police officer has violated the Interior Ministry Act – behavior irreconcilable with the professional ethics code of police employees in the investigation of the kidnapping and murder of Miroslvava Nikolova, 17, from the western city of Pernik, near Sofia.

A commission has been appointed to probe the case and issue a conclusion, on which sanctions will be based.

Earlier Monday, Tsvetanov told the Bulgarian National Television that Bulgarian police officers will be punished for their questionable behavior in the aftermath of the murder, explaining that "one or two" police officers will be disciplined for acting improperly towards the family of the victim.

The sister of Miroslava Nikolova, whose dead body was discovered last week, has complained that an employee of the local unit for combatting organized crime has told her to "grab a gun and go look for her alone."

The police officers who could not prevent one of the murder suspects from committing suicide will also be sanctioned, Tsvetanov announced. However, he pointed out that the employees in question are proven professionals, explaining once again their inadequate actions with "fatigue".

The Interior Minister further criticized the Bulgarian judicial system for not keeping behind bars the other key suspect for the recent murder, 25-year-old Mario Lyubenov.

Mario Lyubenov was reportedly a classmate of Borislav – boyfriend of Miroslava's sister, Eleonora. The girl was kidnapped because Borislav recently inherited a large amount of money and the perps planned to ask him for ransom. They told police they killed Miroslava because they had no means to take care of her.

On Sunday, residents of Bulgaria's of Pernik staged a protest with demands for justice and punishment of the perpetrators of the murder.

The parents of the girl, her classmates, friends, mothers of other murdered children, gathered in front of the police precinct building in the city, saying they harbored strong doubts that the killers will be punished.

At the rally, the mother of the murdered teen demanded a five-member psychiatry expert panel to examine Mario, saying she did not believe in his diagnosis and that anyone can get a piece of paper, after paying accordingly. Mario is currently listed in a psychiatry ward in Sofia – the so-called "4th Kilometer" hospital.

The other suspect arrested for the murder of the teen girl committed suicide as police searched his home in Pernik.

After his arrest, the man identified as Stoycho, aka Chocho, was brought home by the police. As the latter searched the apartment, he got hold of a pistol and shot himself in the head. It remains unclear where the suspect was hiding the gun and how the policemen let him kill himself in their presence.

The teenager disappeared on November 7, 2011 and was missing ever since. On the fatal day, the girl went to her regular taekwondo training and never went back home. Friends said she was in good spirits while in the sports hall and there were no signs of the tragedy that unfolded later on.

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov's controversial remarks on the murder case stirred criticism in the Bulgarian media and in social networks towards the end of the last week.

Authorities suspected the girl may have run away from home or had been trafficked aboard as a white slave. Some assumed that she may have fallen in love with someone who is part of a scheme for human trafficking and voluntarily fled the country - speculations her sister has dismissed as "ridiculous".

Miroslava left her home without documents or money.

It was reported meanwhile that Pernik residents are staging a new rally, demanding answers of who and why failed to carry out their duty; is "crazy Mario" going to escape justice, and how exactly Chocho committed suicide.

The rally is going to start at 7 pm Monday, again in front of the police precinct in the city. No officials from law enforcement were present at the Sunday protest.

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Tags: suicide, The Rabbit, Mario Lyubenov, protest, parents, Pernik, missing, Murder, dead, Miroslava Nikolova, schizophrenia, diagnosis, Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, police, murder case, Head of the Pernik Unit of the Directorate for Combatting Organized Crime

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