DNA Test Links Defendant to Belneyski Sisters Murder

Prominent Bulgarian attorney Marin Markosvski (picture) is the defense counsel in the Bulgarian high-profile "Belneyski" murder case. Photo by bGNES

The Pazardzhik Regional Court received and read the results from the expert DNA analyses from samples taken under the nails of sisters Rositsa and Kristina Belneyski.

The DNA profile shows a match with the one of the only defendant in the case, 30-year-old, Lazar Kolev.

Sisters Rositsa (18) and Kristina (15) Belneyski went missing in January 2006, after leaving a disco bar in the town of Pazardzhik. The sisters were found dead at the beginning of February near the town of Peshtera.

Ivan Ivanov, expert from Bulgaria's National Forensic Institute, who is the person conducting the test, told the magistrates the probability of the DNA not being from Kolev is one to 48 trillions.

The DNA results are seen as the main evidence against the defendant.

The first DNA test had been done in 2006, but at the time it had been impossible to compare the DNA profile with the data base. The second DNA test, from 2009, had led to Kolev. The second profile also matches the first one.

The defense counsel requested for the nails to be brought to the courtroom. After the request was rejected by the magistrates, the attorneys asked for recess.

Earlier Tuesday, Todor Todorov, the Head of the Psychology Institute of the Bulgarian Interior Ministry, and expert in the case, told the Bulgarian National Television, BNT, Kolev, most likely, had an accomplice, a man of high standings in society.