Bulgaria's Supreme Cassation Court will hear Friday the case of 52-year-old Iliya Izmirliev, the driver in the bus accident in river Lim where 12 Bulgarian children drowned three years ago.

The District Court in Veliko Tarnovo sentenced Izmirliev to seven years behind bars on March 9 2006, but the Court of Appeals reduced the sentence to four years eight months later.

The parents of the 12 killed children have appealed the sentence, as they consider it absolutely insufficient and doubt the just ruling of the judges.

Bus company Pamporovo, which had organised the student excursion, was sentenced to pay BGN 1.2 M to victims' families, and that amount hasn't been changed.

Technical reports on what caused the tragic crash are still dubious and leave many questions unanswered. Both the prosecution and the defence still haven't been able to prove whether the reason for the crash was a technical failure of the bus or the driver's negligence.

The bus crash occurred while the children were travelling home after a school trip to Dubrovnik on the night of April 4, 2004. The vehicle slipped off the road and plunged into the river.

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