Bulgaria's Police Brutality Case Reenters Supreme Court

Major Miroslav Pisov was sentenced to 9 years behind bars, while the other four - captain Ivo Ivanov, chief-lieutenant Boris Mehandzhijski, and sergeants Georgi Kalinkov and Yanko Grahovski - to 8 years in jail. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's notorious police brutality case for the murder of Angel Dimitrov aka Chorata is entering the Supreme Court of Cassations (VKS) for the 2nd time.

On November 12 2010, Bulgaria's Military Appellate Court reduced in half the sentences of five anti-mafia policemen, accused of killing Chorata five years ago.

Major Miroslav Pisov was sentenced to 9 years behind bars, while the other four - captain Ivo Ivanov, chief-lieutenant Boris Mehandzhijski, and sergeants Georgi Kalinkov and Yanko Grahovski - to 8 years in jail.

All defendants are appealing the Military Court rule while the Prosecutor is appealing on the grounds the verdict is too light. Chorata's family and the Interior Ministry's Regional Directorate in the southern city of Blagoevgrad have also filed appeals.

At the beginning of the year, the VKS revoked the jail sentence of 82 years total for the five defendants and sent the case back to the Military Appellate Court with the motive there were a number of irregularities committed by the magistrates.

VKS agreed with the latest opinion of medical experts showing Chorata had died from positional asphyxiation, facilitated by his health condition and drug abuse, not from a head trauma and a rupture of the artery.

Angel Dimitrov aka Chorata died in November of 2005 during a law enforcement anti-drug trade and prostitution operation of the Blagoevgrad police, entitled "Respect."

Dimitrov's death was first declared the result of a heart attack but the first expertise showed that he had passed away due to blows to the head. Chorata was a close associate of the alleged mobster Vasil Gorchev, who was publicly executed in January of 2005.

The initial harsh sentences for the police officers triggered mass protest rallies of policemen and citizens in the summer of 2009 in the capital Sofia and in Blagoevgrad. Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, has also voiced support for the accused police officers.

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