Bulgaria's Supreme Court of Cassation has upheld a 20-year prison sentence for a man who stabbed a 21-year-old to death in Pazardzhik on 29 September 2023. The ruling is final and cannot be appealed, so the man stays in prison.
The court dropped the "premeditated" label from the charge, but the sentence stays the same. It is the longest term the law allows for the crime.
The man stabbed the young man twice, and both wounds were fatal. The attack happened in front of the victim's girlfriend, who is the attacker's ex-girlfriend. The motive was jealousy.
The court said the evidence clearly shows he meant to kill, but it was not proved that he planned it beforehand and in a calm state of mind. It said he decided on the spur of the moment, when he saw his ex-girlfriend with the young man, and that the killing came from a fast rise in emotion.
The court also said the victim suffered severe physical and mental torment, and that 20 years in prison is a fully fair punishment given the gravity of the crime.
The Pazardzhik District Court, the first court to hear the case, had given him life in prison for a killing carried out in a particularly cruel way. It also ordered him to pay €511,292 (1m leva) in civil damages to the victim's family. The Plovdiv Court of Appeal cut the sentence to 20 years.
The case lasted almost three years and was marked by mass protests and public anger.