The Supreme Court of Cassations, VKS, upheld Monday the life without parole sentence of Mancho Panyukov, the man who killed his two sons and wife in the Bulgarian village of Osikovo in February 2009.

The verdict was first issued by the lower instance – the Blagoevgrad District Court and upheld by the Sofia Appellate Court. The one Panyukov received Monday is final and cannot be appealed.

In their motives, the magistrates point out that they could not find any grounds to be lenient and the rules of the lowest Courts have been well-founded, and in accordance with the very high level of public threat the crime, committed by the man, represents.

VKS judges see the crime as being irreconcilable with any personal, moral and legal norms of human behavior and say Panyukov is a cruel and brutal individual without any inhibition.

The main motive of the defense council was that the perpetrator was unaware of the consequences of his actions due to a childhood trauma.

Last year, in his final words in front of the Blagoevgrad Court Panyukov, who had already admitted his guilt, said: "It doesn't matter to me what the verdict is, my life is already over."

It was further reported that the motive behind the murders was the fact that Panyukov's wife Bilyana had left him with the children and gone to live back with her parents in Osikovo.

Bilyana Panyukova died at the Sofia Institute for Emergency Medicine "Pirogov" in April 2009 after receiving 85% burns to her body after Mancho set his father-in-law's house on fire and then slaughtered his two sons, ages 5 and 8, in front of shocked villagers. Panyukov was found hiding in a barn and was arrested the day after the murders.

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