The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) has criticized former Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov for defending a police officer who shot down a 36-year-old man of Roma origin in a bid to prevent copper wire theft.

On March 24, 36-year-old Nikolay Ivanov from the village of Banya was shot dead by a police officer who was allegedly trying to prevent the theft of copper wire worth around BGN 1300.

BHC distributed a press release Tuesday condemning a statement of Tsvetanov from April 1 on the incident.

"Yet again Tsvetanov takes the liberty of coming up with media statements on legal issues which are beyond his competence. The investigation is yet to reveal whether the actions of the police officer were lawful," the BHC says.

The BHC also emphasize that the version involving self-defense is a version maintained by the defense of the police officer.

"The "facts", which have been widely distributed by the media, are actually statements of the defendant which no independent source can confirm," the BHC notes.

The human rights NGO draws attention to the fact that the investigation is yet to provide answers to questions like whether the alleged thief attacked the police officer, whether he used an axe and which part of the axe, whether a deadly shot was necessary to repel him, or a shot in a non-essential body part would have sufficed, etc.

The BHC points out that the authorities have only examined one witness so far, adding that the person was not an eyewitness to the incident.

The NGO reminds that the only eyewitnesses to the incident were the murdered man and the defendant, meaning that there is no way to obtain a firsthand account of it.

The BHC says that the investigation and the court are yet to provide answers to these questions and to shed light on the liability of the 36-year-old man for the theft.

"This is why there can be no talk of "prevention of theft", as Tsvetanov referred to it, not to mention the suggestions on his part that it is lawful to take the life of a man to save copper wire. Tsvetanov is not authorized to say that the police officer cannot be held criminally liable. Through his latest arrogant statement he yet again flagrantly and publicly interferes in the work of the prosecutor's office and the court," the BHC adds.

The BHC argues that Tsvetanov regularly justifies police brutality in his statements.

"This man is an embodiment of unscrupulous police brutality over people and laws in Bulgaria. What remains to be seen is whether the prosecuting authority will be an embodiment of his impunity" the BHC states.