Bulgaria Judge Rejects Convicted Borilski Murderer Request

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

The reporting Judge in Bulgaria's high-profile Borilski murder case rejected the request of one of the defendants' lawyers to change his client's detention to a different measure.

Milcho Vanev ruled Tuesday that the request is inadmissible.

The defendant Stoyan Stoichkov was sentenced on February 4 to 17 years behind bars for the savage murder of Bulgarian Sorbonne student Martin Borilski in Paris in 2000. The judge says the challenge of the measure of permanent detention does not apply to the case.

The other suspect – Georgi Zhelyazkov was sentenced to 19 years of jail time.

The verdict was announced in the defendants' absence, which was explained by their lawyer with a traffic problem.

After the verdict, the magistrates also changed Zhelyazkov's and Stoychkov's bail to permanent arrest.

The two disappeared after the trial and there whereabouts remain unknown. On Saturday, the police in the Black Sea city of Varna issued a State-wide arrest warrant for both.

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.

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