Bulgaria Varna Brutal Murder Case Reenters Court

Georgi Tsvetanov, the son of prominent Varna right-wing politician, Tsanko Tsvetanov, accused of the brutal murder of a 21-year-old female college student enters the courtroom Wednesday. Photo by BGNES.

The Regional Court in Bulgaria's Black Sea capital Varna resumed Wednesday the trail in the brutal murder case of college student, Radostina Eftimova.

Ilian Vassilev, one of the members of the defense team of Georgi Tsvetanov, the young man charged with the savage murder and currently the only suspect in the case, said the brother of Radostina's boyfriend has been in her apartment at the time of the murder.

The Defense announced as early as July that a third person, present at the crime scene at the night of the murder, has also been involved in Radostina's killing. They insisted there were traces of three blood types in the apartment, a stark proof that a third person was there, adding the investigation failed to even test and establish their client's blood type.

The lawyers further say there wasn't any evidence Radostina's boyfriend, Petar, was in London in the night of the murder as the Prosecutor claims and Georgi told them the girl was killed by a third person and that he was attacked by him, fought, became unconscious and does not remember anything of what happened next.

In the beginning of the Wednesday court session the lawyer Vassilev had an argument with the security over not being allowed to speak with his client. The argument continued inside the courtroom and the judge warned the attorney he would be held in contempt if he did not lower his voice. Vassilev has been and is complaining that the authorities were impeding access to his client and their conversations were eavesdropped on and recorded.

The defense team also requested for the trail to be postponed basing it on claims they were not appraised of all evidence in the case such as the content of Tsvetanov's cell phone and Radostina's laptop. The Prosecutor says a picture of the murdered Radostina was found on the cell phone while the laptop has her Skype conversation with her boyfriend Petar, who is studying in the UK. The judge rejected the request with the motif the evidence does not support the defense's case, but appointed technical experts to probe if the laptop and the phone had been tempered with on the day after the murder and if attempts to delete content were made.

The defense further requested a closed-doors trial over expectations that intimate details from the lives of the victim and the defendant would be revealed. The request was approved but only for certain witnesses along with the request to call as witnesses the ambulance driver and doctor, who arrived at the crime scene and the brother of Radostina's boyfriend. The victim's mother informed he, as his brother, is studying in London.

The mother took the witness stand Wednesday and said the body was discovered by Radostina's sister and several girlfriends. The front door has been closed but not locked. Radostina, her sister and several friends went to a bar on the night of the murder and Radostina told them, the defendant Georgi was going to take her home, the mother said.

The apartment in downtown Varna, which became the scene of the crime, was owned by Radostina's boyfriend's parents. They lived there together until the young man left to study in London and a girlfriend moved in as roommate.

In the day after the murder the mother became alarmed after many unsuccessful attempts to get in touch with Radostina. She called the boyfriend in London, who also said he was unable to contact her or the defendant. Radostina had not shared with her mother that the boyfriend has been jealous and she never knew of other people, except the sister, spending the night at the apartment.

The mutilated body of the third-year student from Varna's Business University was discovered by her sister on March 7 with over 50 knife wounds. The murder sent shock waves across the country and triggered mass student protests.

Despite mounting evidence, Georgi Tsvetanov, who faces life in prison, refuses to collaborate with the authorities, and continues to deny any involvement in the murder.

Georgi is the son of a prominent Varna politician, Tsanko Tsvetanov, Deputy Chair of the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) and Chair of the UDF branch in the Bulgarian Black Sea capital Varna, who was forced to resign over the murder scandal.

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