One case turned the country’s agenda upside down. On July 5, Georgi Semerdzhiev killed two young women, drug addicts, at breakneck speed. The charge is now ready and the maximum sentence he can receive is 20 years. How does a mother who lost her son accept it and what the investigation was able to prove days before Semerdzhiev faced the court, says Marieta Nikolaeva.
You can often meet Diana Stefanovic on Cherni vrah boulevard in Sofia. That’s where her son’s frontal lobe is. “This place is very important to me. I light a candle and bring some flowers. We planted a tree,” the woman explained.
Siika Mileva in NOVA: Semerdzhiev drove at 166 km/h
21-year-old Hariet Stefanovic was swept off Georgi Semerdzhiev’s jeep as she stood on the sidewalk. “She loved to sing and dance. She was lively, energetic, cheerful and kind. Sensitive, but at the same time very direct, she liked to tell the truth but in her eyes a person”, says her mother. She added: “My loss is immense. I simply have no words, I have lost the meaning of life”.
Four and a half months after the brutal accident that claimed the lives of two young women, the case is going to court. Semerdzhiev has five charges. The expert reports establish exactly what happened on the fateful evening of July 5th. The former footballer was driving at 166 km/h with police lights on.
“It enters the intersection, hits a taxi diagonally, changes trajectory to the right, where at 150 km/h it hits the first victim. From there the jeep hits the subway elevator, splits in two, the rear continues along the avenue, the front one kills the second girl,” explained Deputy Director of the National Investigative Service Yasen Todorov.
The impact resembled an explosion, witnesses said. Semerdzhiev flees the scene. And an hour later he’s home. “In 17 seconds Semerdzhiev managed to get out through the right front door. It turned out that he could not enter her house. With the help of Simona Radeva, with a ladder brought by her, he entered the apartment,” he said specified Todorov.
Initially, Semerdzhiev tried to build a defensive version that he was kidnapped. After that he was silent. However, the evidence is overwhelming that he killed the two young women.
“The one sneaker we found matched the wear and pattern perfectly with that of the car. Both have his DNA profile on them. She ran barefoot. On the clothes is a DNA profile and the blood of the two dead girls,” the NSLS deputy director said.
The case is emblematic and has brought to light the link between law enforcement and criminal activity. Policewoman Simona Radeva, who helped cover it up, was fired from the Interior Ministry.
“She does not deny that she knows Semerdzhiev, that she was called from the car wash, her employee, and left. Not only she helped him with the ladder, but also her friend, who is an employee of the Fourth RU” , commented the lawyer of Harriet’s mother, Plamen Dimitrov.
Seven heads of regional offices in the capital were replaced. Not only because of the Semerdzhiev case, but also because of the bad results. Disciplinary proceedings against 44 law enforcement officers are proceeding separately. It was established that he was stopped dozens of times for traffic violations and instead of criminal liability he suffered only administrative liability.
“There are many mysteries in the case: how Semerdzhiev called her, how her friend from the Fourth Precinct got there, how a military prosecutor appeared on the scene,” the lawyer emphasized.
Prosecutors: The driver may have been drinking before the blood test, not before driving
“The military prosecutor was questioned, he was passing through with his family. He was just doing his civic duty. He helped preserve the scene of the incident until the SDVR team arrived. turn of the SGP,” Todorov said.
“It has often been said that there is a police ‘umbrella’, but clearly it is not just a police ‘umbrella’, but what is on top of it is more than a visor. His behavior, during the incident itself, which was allowed to drive at 166 km/h – this arrogant behavior shows that he is not afraid,” the defender also believes.
“I have no information that Semerdzhiev was an agent of any of the services. There is no such data anywhere in the case. For a protected witness – too,” Todorov explained.
Was there an umbrella over Semerdzhiev and by whom – this question will be answered by a separate case opened in the prosecutor’s office. NOVA obtained Semerdzhiev’s criminal record. It is clear that there is a conviction for hooliganism in 2012. There is also a conviction in 2020. Eight months’ imprisonment after an agreement with the prosecutor’s office, approved by the court.
“The sentence is eight months for possession of more than 4 kg of drugs – heroin, marijuana, worth BGN 105,000. Interestingly, the court approves the deal when it does not conflict with the law and good moral. It may not be against the law, but these 4 kg of drugs would hardly be considered not against good morals. That is, if at the conclusion of the deal the sentence is reduced by 1/3, Semerdzhiev should have received a year in prison, not eight months,” Dimitrov explained.
Scandalous revelations about Simona Radeva and the police umbrella over Semerdzhiev
For this crime, the penal code provides for from 3 to 12 years of imprisonment. “I don’t know how the court decided to grant eight months’ imprisonment,” the lawyer stressed.
On November 29, the case enters the court. In addition to the state prosecution, the mother of the deceased Harriet will also file a civil lawsuit against Semerdzhiev. It will be in the amount of BGN 600,000.
“Preliminarily, we will ask the court for guarantee for the claim, since from the documents I saw in the case, Semerdzhiev has an apartment in ‘Hadji Dimitar’ in Sofia and assets in his company,” Dimitrov added.
The mother who has lost her child expects a just punishment: “I have no feelings for him. Yes, very strange, I think, but I feel nothing. I don’t know… I trust the court will be fair and decide. I am looking for a sense, but there is none in my life.”
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