Sofia Prosecutor Officially Charges 3 with College Student Murder

The murder of college student Stoyan Baltov provoked mass protest rallies demanding life sentences for the perpetrators. Photo by BGNES

The Sofia District Prosecutor's Office pressed formal charges Wednesday in the murder case of college student Stoyan Baltov.

The three people charged with Baltov's murder are Vili Georgiev, Alexander Danailov and Svetlozar Stoilov, who was previously only regarded as a witness to the incident.

20-year-old pharmacy student Stoyan Baltov died on December 5, 2008 after sustaining severe head trauma and scull fracture from a beating in front of the “Amnesia” disco club in Sofia's “Studentski Grad” (College Town) district.

4 days later the Sofia District Court imposed permanent detention on Vili Georgiev, and charged him with taking part in the beating. Alexander Danailov was arrested, released on BGN 500 bond and later arrested again.

The death of the student provoked a huge outcry about conditions in the Studentski Grad district. Tine Amnesia club was closed down with calls for it to be demolished; students and professors were involved in mass street protests; Boyko Borisov, then the Mayor of Sofia, sacked the Chief Architect of the Studentska municipality.

The murder trial opened in July, with Georgiev and Danailov as the two defendants in the case. They were charged with unpremeditated murder due to the influence of alcohol.

Witness testimony forced the court to return the case for the prosecution for further investigation over evidence a third person was involved in the beating.

In November, the Sofia District Prosecutor, Nikolay Kokinov, announced a third person will be charged with the murder. Svetlozar Stoilov was officially charged on December 6.