Bulgarian Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov and Senior Commissioner Petar Dzhigov, Deputy Director of the Border Police General Directorate, have arrived in Edirne for the second hearing of a court trial on the killing of a Bulgarian Border Police officer.
Their presence in the court is intended to express full support and empathy to the relatives and friends of the officer who was killed in the line of duty, Stoyanov's Ministry said in a press release on Thursday.
The Border Police officer, Junior Inspector Petar Bachvarov, was shot dead on November 7, 2022 while patrolling the border with Turkiye near the village of Golyam Dervent. A Turkish national was detained for the killing. The autopsy showed that Bachvarov had been hit with hunting shotgun pellets, which rules out the possibility of a shootout between Bulgarian and Turkish border police, the then National Investigation Service Director Borislav Sarafov (now acting Prosecutor General) explained back in November 2022. The main lead followed by Bulgarian and Turkish investigators is that Bachvarov was shot by a Turkish national attempting to steal livestock.
The two defendants tried for the killing are Engin Erguvan, 36, and his brother Mustafa Erguvan, 30. The prosecution pleads for life imprisonment for Engin Erguvan, who allegedly fired the shot, and for a 9 to 15 years' prison sentence for Mustafa Erguvan.
"I am grateful to the Turkish colleagues for a very active, fast and adequate investigation with an international element that they have carried out. Within the space of a year they succeeded in completing the investigation and submit the case to the court. I trust Turkish justice. Life is priceless, and I believe that the culprits will be convicted and sentenced to actual imprisonment," Stoyanov commented before the start of Thursday's hearing.
A Defence Ministry personnel member, who was on patrol together with Bachvarov, will also be present in court. It transpired at the previous hearing that the service member remains to be questioned in person by the Turkish court.
Stoyanov specified that Bulgaria has categorically waived any claims to the damage inflicted on the motor vehicle that the two officers used when the crime was committed.
Replying to a question, the Interior Minister confirmed that he expects the extradition from Uzbekistan before the end of the year of a Bulgarian national who has been detained there and who has been sentenced in Bulgaria to life imprisonment for a double murder.
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