Protests Across Bulgaria and Europe in Support of Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev
Demonstrations were held in Sofia, Varna, Ruse, and several European cities in support of Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev, who was arrested on July 8
The suspect in the kidnapping and gruesome murder of a Bulgarian teen girl, Stoycho Stoev, who committed suicide, had never been interrogated before a magistrate.
The information was reported Friday by the Pernik Regional Prosecutor, Plamen Naydenov.
The news means that Stoev's confession and testimony, on which is based the investigation of the other kidnapping and murder suspect, Mario Lyubenov AKA The Rabbit, most likely will not be used in Court as evidence. According to the Penal Code, since Stoev, who led the police to place where the body was buried, is now dead, his testimony cannot be used during the trial against Luybenov.
Miroslava Nikolova, 17, from the western city of Pernik, near Sofia, was kidnapped in November and her body was discovered by the police 65 days later. Two men were arrested as suspects. One of them – Stoev AKA Chocho, according to the police, had made confessions and implicated his accomplice as the physical perpetrator of the murder.
Chocho, however, committed suicide before the eyes of highly-trained policemen when he got hold on a gun during the search of his apartment.
The other suspect – Lyubenov is listed in a Sofia psychiatry ward to be tested for schizophrenia.
Naydenov further informed that Miroslava's cause of death is mechanical asphyxiation, but refused to confirm that a metal rope has been used, as some media reported. The Prosecutor said there was no evidence that the girl was raped or that her neck was broken or that she had other severe injuries. The 19 ordered DNA reports are ready, he says.
He 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.
A 46-year-old man, identified by the initials G.I., has been charged by the Sliven District Prosecutor’s Office with the murder of his mother
Bulgarian pop-folk singer Debora Ivanova has been taken into custody and formally charged after being caught driving with a blood alcohol level
Border police in Ruse have detained 16 Iraqi nationals who were discovered hidden inside a refrigerated truck
Authorities have uncovered what is believed to be the largest illegal cigarette factory ever discovered in Bulgaria
In a major operation by the Prosecutor’s Office and the Directorate for Drug Control and Investigations, Bulgarian law enforcement seized two kilograms of fentanyl
A tragic altercation on the eve of a wedding left one man dead
Operation Rising Lion: Why and How Israel Attacked Iran
EU Population Grows by Over a Million, While Bulgaria Continues to Shrink