2024-02-15 10:01:46
- The girl filed a civil claim for BGN 200,000, but it was rejected for joint consideration
- Georgi Georgiev unsuccessfully tried to get free
After a 3-hour closed session, the Plovdiv magistrates terminated the court proceedings in the “Debora” case and returned the indictment to the prosecutor’s office.
According to the district court in Plovdiv, procedural violations were committed – it is not clearly stated what exactly 26-year-old Georgi Georgiev from Stara Zagora is accused of.
The case made headlines last summer and provoked a series of protests across the country, as well as changes in the law. 18-year-old Deborah Mihailova was cut with a dummy knife and the wounds were treated with 400 stitches, and Georgi, accused of the violence, was released. After receiving another charge, the court imposed a measure of “detention in custody”.
Georgiev is brought to criminal responsibility for threatening to kill, coercion and two-degree medium bodily harm. According to the prosecutor’s office, on June 26, 2023, with particular cruelty – by punching her in the head
inflicting 18 stab wounds,
caused the girl a craniocerebral injury resulting in hemorrhaging, cerebral edema and contusion, resulting in disfigurement and temporary danger to life.
That same day, he shaved half of Deborah’s head with a clipper, using force. And in the period from April to June 25, 2023, he threatened to kill.
All magistrates in the Starozagorsk District Court recused themselves and the Supreme Court had to move the case to Plovdiv.
“I just expect justice,” Deborah said on the sidelines and declined to comment on the case.
Georgiev also remained silent when he was brought by the guards.
Judge Desislava Poryazova hastened to expel those present, pointing out that during the injunctive session, details of the intimate life of the two will be revealed. A little later, the parties to the case were brought out.
“We made a request not to make a move,
because it was found that there was no representative of the district prosecutor’s office in Plovdiv”, explained one of Georgiev’s lawyers – Valentin Dimitrov. The supervising prosecutors from Stara Zagora Desislava Kalaidzhieva and Ivelina Koseva were sent to the courtroom.
However, according to the defense, there should be a representative of the prosecution from Plovdiv as well, since the decision of the Supreme Court says that the local prosecutor’s office is territorially competent. Dimitrov was adamant that his client would not admit guilt and
the case will proceed according to the general procedure with the questioning of witnesses
Deborah Mihailova left the courtroom and quickly went to her relatives, and the lawyer Simeon Daskalov accused the other side of bullying the trial. He added that he would insist on the maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for Georgiev.
Lawyer Dimitrov and his colleague Petko Kanev asked Judge Poryazova to return the case to a pre-trial phase to eliminate violations. According to them, the threat to kill was taken out of the context of communication between Georgiev and Mihailova.
The state prosecution referred only to an Instagram chat. The defense requested that Georgi be placed under house arrest. It became clear that Deborah filed a civil lawsuit against him for BGN 200,000.
However, the district court refused to consider it together with the case, as it would complicate the process.
Lawyer Daskalov indicated that he will be presented again when there is a verdict.
In the end, the magistrates returned the indictment, but not because of what was stated by Georgiev’s defenders, but because of the ambiguities found. Deborah’s representative is calm that the missing will be completed in a month and the case will begin.
Judge Desislava Poryazova also refused to change the remand order. The decision is subject to appeal within 7 days. On leaving the hall, Deborah once again refused to comment.
Georgi also remained silent while the guards led him out, and the female prosecutors did not say whether they would protest the decision to return the indictment.