Parents and relatives of those who died in accidents gathered at a protest at the intersection of the capital's “Slivnitsa“ and "Ruse" street, BTA reported. At this intersection on May 8, 2023, Ani and Yavor died in a traffic accident while crossing a pedestrian path.
Initiators of the protest were the "Anni and Yavor: The Key is Love" foundation. and Initiative Committee “Together against madness on the roads“.
„Remember that our children are not statistics”, said Ani's mother Desislava Malcheva.
„We are here today not only because of Ani and Yavor, not only because of the sentence they received and for us it is extremely insufficient and arrogant. We are here because of all the other children who died and got even less “big” a sentence, for some "big, even shocking", comments Desislava Malcheva.
These are road murders and it is time for the whole society and absolutely all institutions to stand up and talk seriously about this problem, because only today three more have died on the roads of Bulgaria, Desislava Malcheva also said.
The real culprit of this road war is the state. In the face of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, Municipalities as owners of infrastructure, commented Julieta Mihailova from the Initiative Committee "Together against madness on the roads".
„Let's not forget the State Road Safety Agency and, last but not least, the legislative body - the Bulgarian Parliament, which clearly works only and only under pressure. That's why there are citizens like us, that's why there are civil initiatives, associations, foundations. "Some of them are made up of parents of dead children, which is shocking," she said.
„I am here to firstly express my sympathy to the two families, the Parents of Ani and Javor, whom I met at their exhibition when they announced the foundation “Anni and Javor: The Key is Love,” said car racer Ludmil Vlakhov.
He said that being a volunteer in the Initiative Committee “Together against madness on the roads“ for him it is a cause.
„We are all, potentially or not potentially, victims of all the ugliness, the sloppiness that happens on the roads, the lack of control, the lack of skills, the lack of responsibility. I am here to express my position”, he commented.
Representatives of the association “Angels on the road”, the “Stefan Stefanov“ foundation, relatives and friends of those who died in road accidents, sympathetic citizens took part in the protest.
„Today we are teaming up with the foundation “Anni and Yavor: The key is love” and with others who support us. The sentence of the person responsible for the death of my son Stefan was four years and eight months, but it was reduced to two years and eight months after the person who caused the accident pleaded guilty and said he was sorry, said Stefan Stefanov's mother Krasimira Manolova.
We want to call on society to support us, and as Ani's mother said, “Let us be responsible before we go to court”, Krasimira Manolova also said.
Traffic in the section along Slivnitsa Blvd. was stopped for about an hour.
With posters with inscriptions “High speed, alcohol, drugs = Road murder! Life imprisonment!“, “Bulgaria has no children to kill!“, “For road murders - life imprisonment!“, the protesters organized a procession along Slivnitsa Blvd. to the place where Yavor's body was dragged about 300 meters.
On July 4, the Sofia City Court (SGC) sentenced Adrian Antonov, accused of the accident that killed Ani and Yavor, to nine years in prison. After the defendant Adrian Antonov made a confession and requested that the trial be conducted according to the summary investigation, and the court agreed, Antonov's sentence will be reduced by one third at the dispositional hearing on June 19. Thus, the person found guilty will spend six years in prison, and the sentence will be served under the “general regime”.
The parents of Ani and Yavor told the media that they do not agree with the court's decision and will appeal to the Court of Appeal.