The defense of Kristina Duncheva, the mother from Sandanski, who killed her two children and received the heaviest sentence on Monday – life imprisonment without parole, will appeal the sentence, reported BNT.
The lawyers believe that the District Court in Blagoevgrad did not take into account the collected evidence and expert conclusions in the case, which prove that Christina has serious personality deficits and did not realize what she was doing.
Tragedy shook Bulgaria four years ago, when the mother killed 5-year-old Vasko and 3-year-old Yvonne in their home. Christina's family believes that the court did not take into account the evidence of mental harassment and domestic violence that the father of the children exercised on her – Georgi Traikov.
"They put all the blame for Yvonne and Vaska on my sister, a defenseless person who reported to the police and to the court, but it was clearly proven that domestic violence, at least in Sandanski and in Blagoevgrad, it is decided according to the legal order with reports", said Iliyan Dunchev, Kristina's brother.
Kristina Duncheva is a traumatized person in a very serious mental state, says her brother through tears. To this day, she does not remember what exactly happened on the fateful November 19, 2020.
"She has been on pills for four years now, during the examinations they gave her some, now others - morning, noon and night, just to be drugged," explained Dunchev.
Kristina Duncheva's lawyers will appeal her life sentence.
"We are surprised, yes, because in the case there is a lot of evidence and a lot of facts gathered by the defense in the course of the defense, which should have determined some other type of punishment or led to the dropping of criminal liability," said Pavlin Kuyumdzhiev, Kristina Duncheva's lawyer.
Christina underwent three psychiatric examinations – one in Blagoevgrad immediately after the murder of the children, the second in the prison in Lovech and the third – by a 7-member expert panel in Sofia. Two examinations indicate that the woman has a mental disorder and was not aware of what she was doing.
"What must be done is to consider whether we are judging a sick and burdened person or we are judging a healthy person. That the deed is horrible, there is no dispute, so we do not comment on its authorship. We are only commenting on whether she was extremely facilitated, as the experts indicate, whether she had other circumstances that made it easier for her to commit this act and the conditions in which it was committed," commented Pavlin Kuyumdzhiev, Kristina Duncheva's lawyer.
Kristina Duncheva is currently serving her sentence in the Sliven prison.