A novelty in Bulgaria's Penal Procedure Code saw its first application on Thursday, as the court is to sentence a Bulgarian and an Iranian to less than five years in jail for kidnapping and robbing a Briton here.

Ali Deni and Atanas Galchev admitted their guilt in kidnapping British citizen Christou Fanos, a step - under the new penal provisions - entitling them to shortened court proceedings and a sentence less than five years imprisonment.

Fanos was seized on December 14, 2005 and held in a cottage near Sofia, where he was reportedly beaten up and sexually abused. The kidnappers contacted his family in the UK and demanded a ransom of GBP 44,000 to release him.

Initially defendants Deni and Galchev refused to be accused of the crime placing all the blame to their accomplice - Hari Milkovski - who was killed during the police rescue operation.

But later the two admitted being guilty under the pair of charges against them, thus paving the way for an alleviated verdict.

Bulgaria has amended both its Penal and Penal Procedure Code under EU's strict monitoring for reforms in the judiciary. It has been also strongly pushed to show its active implementation.

The EC is to report on the latest progress of this membership-aspirant country in a report on May 16.

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