The defendant in the "Debora" case, Georgi Georgiev, condemned the Plovdiv District Court for delayed justice, after the criminal trial against him was returned to its starting position due to the recusal of the jury. This is reported by BNT.
The Stara Zagora District Court accepted that nearly a year of court hearings were in vain, since a female judge participated in protests and expressed public positions on the case of the victim Debora Mihaylova. This raised doubts about her impartiality and forced the entire panel to withdraw and the case to start over.
The court emphasizes that the juror should have declared her commitment herself when she was assigned to the case. Since this was not done in time, the trial was delayed by 11 months and 26 days - a period during which Georgiev was detained.
The magistrates accept that this constitutes a violation of the right to a hearing within a reasonable time and leads to non-pecuniary damage - stress, uncertainty and impaired trust in justice.
Therefore, the District Court - Plovdiv has been ordered to pay Georgi Georgiev 500 euros in compensation, plus statutory interest from February 25, 2025 until final payment.
Georgiev's claim was for a much larger amount - over 13 thousand euros, but the court partially granted it. The decision of the Stara Zagora District Court can be appealed to the Plovdiv Court of Appeal.