Bulgarian Court Confirms 'Borilski' Sentences

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

Bulgaria's Supreme Court of Cassations has confirmed the sentences of the two young men who murdered Bulgarian Sorbonne student Martin Borilski in Paris in 2000.

Georgi Zhelyazkov and Stoyan Stoichkov have been sentenced to 19 and 17 years in prison, respectively, and to pay BGN 120,000 as compensation to Borilski's family. The court's decision is final and cannot be appealed.

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

The Monday's hearing was the second time the case has been brought to court. In February, the Appellate Court in the Bulgarian city of Veliko Tarnovo has sentenced the two men, who have been hiding from the authorities for 11 days before turning themselves in to court security officers.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court of Cassations (VKS) has written that it finds the ruling of the Veliko Tarnovo Appellate Court “proper and legitimate and therefore it should remain in force”.

According to the magistrates, the ruling has not been illegal, as Zhelyazkov's defense has claimed, because it has been complied with the collected evidence.

“Also, unfounded are the objections against the indictment. It is based on the collected pre-trial evidence, which gave a reason to conclude that only the defendants Zhelyazkov and Stoichkov have been present at the scene at the time of Borilski's murder,” VKS has stated.

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