Bulgaria Pays Compensations to Police Brutality Victims

Bulgarian police are often accused of brutality and use of unnecessary force. File photo

Bulgaria's cabinet paid BGN 54 500 in compensations to two victims of police brutalitiy under the rule of the European Human Rights Court in Strasburg.

The largest amount went to the parents of Gancho Vachkov aka Ganetsa, who was killed in 1999 by a police anti-terrorist task force team.

According to the Court, the operation to arrest Ganetsa was wrongly planned while police used unnecessary force and fired shots without need; the following probe of the killing had many flaws such as failing to collect evidence from officers who were involved in the arrest and to even identify them, along with the coroner's report that suicide could have been a likely cause of death.

"All this shows the total lack of police obeying the law, and taking responsibility for their actions," the magistrates wrote.

The Bulgarian cabinet also ordered Wednesday a payment of EUR 18 000 in compensations to Vasil Petrov from the town of Velingrad. He was arrested during a robbery and shot by two policemen while attempting to escape. He received serious kidney and liver injuries and damage.

Two other people were awarded EUR 11 000 over the slow justice process in the country – Margarita Kotseva has been fired from a psychiatric ward in the city of Veliko Tarnovo in 1996 and her case against the employer is still dragging on; Dimitar Filipov spent two years behind bars on theft charges which have not been proven.

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