Protests against animal cruelty will be held today in Sofia and Varna.
In Sofia, the demonstration begins at 2 p.m. in front of the Courthouse, and in the seaside capital, the protest starts at 11 a.m. on "Independence" Square.
The cause of the protests is the case of the stray dog Maya, who was run over in the capital's Razsadnika district by the specialist at the Military Medical Academy, Dr. Nenad Tsonevski. He is being investigated for intentional cruelty to a vertebrate animal. Tsonevski has been temporarily suspended from work and is free on bail.
The protesters recall that this is another case of animal cruelty and demand strict punishments in accordance with the changes in the Criminal Code. They came to this after demonstrations across the country over the case of Gabriela Sashova and Krasimir Georgiev from Pernik, who have been charged with torturing animals for material gain.
"Our demands are mainly for the Criminal Code to be implemented, because after the case of Gabriela and Krasimir and the protests we organized then - in March and April, the National Assembly adopted really high punishments for animal cruelty and violence quite quickly. Unfortunately, however, what we see is that it has no preventive effect. "Crimes continue to occur almost on a daily basis and it is very important that this Penal Code begins to be implemented so that we can finally see people going to prison for crimes against animals, which may deter another potential criminal from committing such a crime," explained Zlatin Mladenski from the organization "Bears and Friends," which organized the protest against animal cruelty in front of the Military Medical Academy on Thursday.