New hearing on Angel "Chorata" Dimitrov case begins

Sofia, 17 April 2008 - The new hearing on the case of the Blagoevgrad businessman Angel "Chorata" Dimitrov started with a request for returning the indictment back to the prosecutor. The defense of the five policemen claims that each officer's guilt is not detailised.

In November last year the Sofia MIlitary Court sentenced the five police officers who detained Angel Dimitrov - Miroslav Pisov, Ivo Ivanov, Boris Mehanjiiski, Georgi Kalinkov, and Yanko Grahovski - to a total of 91 years in prison. They had to pay 90,000 Euro damages to Dimitrov's family.

In February this year, however, the military appellate magistrates returned the case for a new referral.

Immediately after Chorata's death, the Interior Ministry senior management claimed that the victim had died of a heart attack during detention. Later on, Interior Minister Rumen Petkov changed his position and even apologized to the victim's relatives.

The second post-mortem revealed that the death had occurred as a result of heavy beating and kicks to the head after the victim was hand-cuffed and totally helpless.

The indictment order was returned and changed to "premeditated murder". Now, however, the case is starting anew, and its end is unclear.

Source: Mediapool