Court remands man accused of slashing 18-year-old girl with a knife and inflicting injuries that required 400 stitches

The District Court in Stara Zagora on July 31 took a remand measure of "detention in custody" against the security guard Georgi Nikolaev. The man abused and slashed an 18-year-old girl with a carpet-cutting knife. She has 21 cut wounds on her arms, legs and chest, her nose was broken, and all of her hair was shaved off. The young girl received 400 stitches.

The alleged perpetrator was her boyfriend, who was at the time (end of June) detained for 72 hours and then released.

Unprecedented cruelty: Man disfigured 18-year-old girl with dummy knife, released on bail

Nikolaev, however, remains now in custody not because of his brutal act, but because of the murder threats he made to the girl.

Unprecedentedly, the district court in Stara Zagora did not allow journalists into the courtroom during the hearing today. The judge also asked journalists to be expelled from the corridor outside the courtroom.

The court guards, who carry out orders of the court and the judicial authorities, also stopped the journalists on the grounds that the judge had ordered them to do so.

Images by BGNES

The District Court in Stara Zagora did not explain whether and why the case was being heard behind closed doors, nor, if the sitting was not closed, why journalists were not allowed in the courtroom, but only the parties to the case.

The prosecution did not request that the case be heard in closed sitting.

The court did not allow journalists even during the reading of the ruling on Georgi Nikolaev's remand in custody. By law, these types of acts are public and restricting the media is inadmissible. Georgi Nikolaev remains in custody. The reasons remained secret.

Later, in a brief press release, they explained that the court had found that there was sufficient evidence gathered to suggest that Nikolaev had committed the crime he was charged with and that the fact that he had been convicted twice of causing minor bodily harm under hooligan motives made him particularly dangerous, which is why he should be in custody.

This decision of the court, journalists learned not from the court itself, but from the Prosecutor’s office.

Today, Judge Tatyana Gyoneva, who in June released Nikolaev, spoke for the first time. Her decision and brutal aggression, however, caused a powerful public reaction. Gyoneva said she made her decision because, according to the documents that were presented to the panel, it was a case of minor bodily harm.

Interestingly, the deputy district prosecutor of Stara Zagora also asked for a lighter remand measure during the hearing itself. However, it was not clear why neither the Prosecutor's office nor the court had asked for an expert medical examination to determine what the injuries on the girl's body were and then make a decision.

"I was approached by the first regional police station and that's how things started. When I arrived at the scene, it is difficult to describe, but the picture was brutal." It is not for telling," that is how the father of the girl described the injury determined by the District Court as minor. However, according to the judges panel, their decision was correct and lawful.

"It is in line with the request of representatives of the District Prosecutor's Office," said Krasimir Georgiev, chairman of the District Court in Stara Zagora.

"In cases of disability, we are guided by the medico-biological sign of disability indicated in the conclusion of the forensic medical examination. We are not forensic physicians, so we can only judge from the photographs how serious the injury was, was there a danger to life?" said Tatyana Gyoneva, a judge at the Stara Zagora District Court.

Asked if she found the photos disturbing, she said, "Of course, I felt disturbed, the whole panel of judges found them distrubing."

More than a month after the nightmare night, the 18-year-old girl has been unable to recover.

"She does not speak most of the time, she's shut in, she's kind of a prisoner inside herself and maybe between four walls. The recovery is going very slowly, these are some deep scars that will remain, hopefully with time, medicine is quite advanced, they will heal, but certainly the bigger trauma is emotional," her father told BNT.

And the District Court's decision to release the accused Georgi Nikolayev from custody sparked a sharp public reaction.

BNT asked Tatiana Gyoneva whether, in the face of this public reaction, she was considering resigning and leaving the judiciary.

"Thank you also for this question, thank you to everyone who supported me in this ordeal because my colleagues supported me and they know what kind of person I am, I am not bragging. I hope you reflect on our successes as well. I don't intend to, no. I love my job."

Judge Gyoneva also did not respond to the question of why she had not considered two previous deliberations on bodily harm by hooliganism, and when asked if she would stand for the protest she said so:

"I think you're asking too much of me. I'm calling for a line that, if crossed, the damage would be very serious."

A month after the attack, the five-member forensic medical examination has already been appointed to answer the question of whether the 18-year-old girl was disfigured by Georgi Nikolaev.

"It is complicated to qualify such an act, as the violence inflicted caused many different types of traumatic injuries, some of them are definitely minor injuries, but another part whether they are medium needs to be clarified. In view of the result of the expert examination and the additional interrogations, we will eventually prove whether it was committed in a particularly cruel manner and with particular cruelty, and all this determines the exact legal qualification," said Tanya Dimitrova, Stara Zagora district prosecutor.

According to the district prosecutor, it is possible to reach the hypothesis of "attempted murder" if evidence is collected.

The father of the 18-year-old girl is hoping for justice.

"There's the problem, there's no way - it's insane with such serious injuries for this to be a minor injury with such cruelty. We are fighting for justice - we want justice and for the person responsible for this act to face the consequences and the full severity of the law," said Krasimir Mihailov.

According to Mihailov, his daughter's relationship with Georgi Nikolaev had been going on for several months, but he was unaware of the problems in their relationship.