Day of Mourning in Bulgaria's Pernik over Slain Teen Burial

Saturday, February 4, is an official day of mourning in Bulgaria's western city of Pernik, near the capital Sofia, in memory for the murdered teen girl Miroslava Nikolova.

The City Hall has granted BGN 1 000 for the funeral services and buses free of charge for friends and relatives of the girl.

The mass is served at 11 am in the largest church in the city – "St. Prophet Iliya." Miroslava will be buried at 1 pm in the Pernik central cemetery.

Miroslava Nikolova, 17, from Pernik, was kidnapped in November and her body was discovered by the police 65 days later. Two men were arrested as suspects. One of them – Stoycho Stoev AKA Chocho, according to the police, had made confessions and implicated his accomplice as the physical perpetrator of the murder.

Chocho, however, committed suicide before the eyes of highly-trained policemen when he got hold on a gun during the search of his apartment.

The other suspect – Mario Lyubenov AKA The Rabbit is listed in a Sofia psychiatry ward to be tested for schizophrenia.

The case stirred controversy and outrage with many dissatisfied with police work and with information provided to the public, where a number of details remain unclear and confusing.

Pernik residents staged several protest rallies with demands for justice and punishment of the perpetrators of the murder.

The parents of the girl, her classmates, friends, mothers of other murdered children, gathered several times in front of the police precinct building in the city, saying they harbored strong doubts that the killers will be punished.