The case of the beating of Hristiyan Pendikov in Ohrid starts over after the court acquitted Borche Angelov and Iliya Spaseski. Pendikov was attacked on January 19, 2023 and suffered serious injuries, including a broken jaw, broken vertebrae and broken ribs.
Pendikov, who was the secretary of the now-deleted association “Tsar Boris the Third“ in Ohrid, told NOVA NEWS that the attack was related to his Bulgarian identity.
“On January 19, 2023, I was brutally beaten by the two attackers. However, the court acquitted them. The defeats on me are physical – I have a broken jaw, broken vertebrae and ribs“, Pendikov said.From an 8-month sentence to an acquittal
In the initial hearing, the Ohrid court sentenced Angelov and Spaseski to 8 months of effective imprisonment, as well as a 2-year probationary period. Pendikov specified that the prosecution and defense appealed the decision, after which the case was returned for a new hearing in the same court.
According to him, the same panel of judges, judge and prosecutor participated in the rehearing. However, the result was different – The two defendants were acquitted.
„After an appeal by the prosecution and them, the case returned to the first instance in Ohrid, where the same panel, the same judge and the same prosecutor one year later gave them an acquittal“, said Pendikov.Written reasons not yet received
At the moment, Pendikov does not have the written reasons for the acquittal. He indicated that the judge read the decision and stated that the reasons would be provided a few days later.
„At the moment, I cannot comment on this, as the judge read the verdict, but told us that we would receive it a few days later“, said Pendikov.
He described the decision as „shameful and disgraceful“ and stated that it creates a feeling of impunity for attacks against people with Bulgarian identity. Pendikov added that he would comment in more detail on the verdict after receiving the reasons for it.
Sources: nova.bg, bntnews.bg