Maxim Staviiski Crash Stirs Public Outrage in Bulgaria Again

Maxim Staviiski pleaded guilty to drunken driving in 2007 and received a 2,5 year suspended sentence, with probation of 5 years, in addition to a four-year driving ban. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

Bulgarian world ice-dancing champion Maxim Staviiski has scored yet another scandalous victory in court four years after he killed a man and left a young woman comatose in a crash, caused by drunken driving.

Sofia City Court dismissed on Tuesday the claim of Manuela Gorsova, who was heavily injured in the crash and left in a coma, against the insurance company of the former world champion Generali.

The court found no grounds for the insurance company to pay BGN 189,254 to the victim's family and even obliged it to cover the costs in the trial, totaling BGN 21 000.

Manuela's parents will appeal the ruling. They say they wanted the insurance company to pay part of their daughter's treatment in Israel. The judge however described the claim as baseless.

The court ruling has triggered a wave of indignant comments in Internet forums in Bulgaria, where people call it "travesty of justice".

The deadly crash occurred in August 2007 after Maxim Staviiski, at the wheel of his Hummer vehicle, veered into the opposite lane on a bridge over the Ropotamo River near the coastal city of Burgas, crashing headlong into another car with four people riding in it.

The driver was killed, while one of his passengers - 18-year-old Manuela Gorsova is still in coma.

Staviiski pleaded guilty to drunken driving and received a 2,5 year suspended sentence, with probation of 5 years, in addition to a four-year driving ban.

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