Comment by Mina Kirkova:
"Years ago, my ex-partner used to give me these examples that even if she killed me, she wouldn't spend much time in prison and then she would raise our son without me," wrote a woman named Blagorodna in a comment under a publication by "Free Europe" on social networks.
The reason is that yesterday was a black day for women in Bulgaria. After two court rulings, all women who have been raped, harassed, cut up, and discarded as useless objects by men who think they own them have felt left behind.
Two decisions in the same day
Evgenia's husband, who was convicted in the first and second instance of strangling her with his bare hands, then finishing the job with stretch film, putting her body in a suitcase, and dumping it in a pond near Pernik, will not spend the rest of his life in prison, as the court had ruled. Instead, his sentence is being reduced to 20 years. His father - who admitted to being an accomplice in the murder and its concealment - is completely acquitted. He is being released. He had a life sentence in the first and second instance.
At the same time, Georgi Georgiev, accused of cutting Debora Mihaylova's body with a model knife in 2023, condemned the Plovdiv district court for slow justice. He felt "humiliated and oppressed".
Green light for abusers
The lack of justice for victims of abusers in Bulgaria reached a peak with these two cases. But they are far from the only ones. This is the widespread feeling in the country - there is no justice. This is also the feeling of those who rape, injure, kill their wives - even if they do, no one will hold them accountable. If they hold them accountable, it will take a long time. If it takes a long time, they will condemn the court for taking a long time. If they convict them, they will appeal. They will have their sentences reduced. They will be released sooner or later. If they go behind bars at all. Two of the most egregious cases of violence against women in Bulgaria today are becoming an example - even these people get away with it.
This is the message to those men who don't need any additional motivation to cause pain to their partners anyway. And what do they say to those women who are afraid that the man who rapes, beats, threatens them will finish the job and kill them tomorrow? They tell them that no one protects them. That this man has nothing to fear. That the country they live in will do nothing for them. It will even give the green light to this abuser to do whatever he wants. Who will hold him accountable? It's clearly not going to be the judicial system.
What would stop them from doing the same?
These decisions are piled on top of the already hostile reactions of society when a woman musters up the courage to try to escape from a man who rapes her, violates her rights, tramples on her dignity, and ultimately kills her. Could it be that she cheated on him? What was she looking for there? Why didn't she leave? And why didn't she think twice when she chose him? This happened a few years ago, why is she only now remembering to talk? She wants to ruin his life! And also: what was she doing in a beauty salon, it's her fault that someone put a camera in it and is now distributing recordings on pornographic websites. What did she do to a gynecologist who also has a camera in his doctor's office, the footage of which also ends up on the same sites.
Against the backdrop of all this, women who live with abusive men say to themselves - I will succeed, I will escape, I will dare to speak out, I will help others not to end up in the same situation. I will press charges, I will make sure that this man goes to prison. And today they hear that this can happen, but it is more likely that it will not work.
Imagine now, but really try to imagine that it is your wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend. Imagine what you would do. Thousands of people have been commenting on social networks since yesterday with calls for self-harm. Can you blame them? What is left for them? For a month, on another occasion, we have all been talking about the fact that Bulgarians have no trust in institutions and how bad this is. Well, where did it come from? The accomplice of Evgenia's murderer is being released. The killer himself will also come out sooner or later. They will walk the streets. They will meet another woman. What would stop them from doing the same to her?