State-wide Arrest Warrant Issued for Bulgaria Borilski Killers

Stoyan Stoichkov (l) and Georgi Zhelyazkov were convicted of killing Bulgarian Sorbonne student Martin Borilski in Paris in 2000. Their whereabouts are currently unknown. Photo by DarikNews

A State-wide arrest warrant has been issued for Georgi Zhelyazkov and Stoyan Stoichkov, the police in the Black sea capital of Varna report Saturday.

On Thursday, Zhelyazkov and Stoichkov were sentenced by the Veliko Tarnovo Appellate Court to 19 and 17 years in prison, respectively, for the savage murder of Bulgarian Sorbonne student Martin Borilski in Paris in 2000.

After the verdict, the magistrates also changed their bail to detention, but the Court ruled in the absence of the defendants, which their lawyer explained with a traffic problem.

The Varna police went Friday and Saturday to the registered addresses of the two convicted killers, but failed to find them there and issued a State-wide arrest warrant.

In the summer of 2000, French firefighters discovered the brutally murdered Martin Borilski in his apartment in Paris. His body was tied down with a sweater, and his skull was broken with a dumbbell. There were 93 stabbing wounds on his corpse.

Zheliazkov, who is the son of a prominent Varna lawyer, and Stoichkov, were acquitted by the first two Bulgarian instances - the Shumen District Court and the Veliko Turnovo Appellate Court.

Amidst the pressure of protest rallies and stark remarks on the part of French Ambassador to Bulgaria, Etienne de Poncins, in the beginning of March 2009, Bulgaria's Supreme Court of Cassations returned the "Borilski" murder case to the Appellate Court in the city of Veliko Tarnovo for retrial.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!