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The prosecutor’s office has completed the investigation into the NSO car accident with Tsveta Karayancheva near Shumen. This happened at the request of Karayancheva herself as a victim, said the spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office in the city Orlin Kuzdov. The case involved the woman whose car collided with the car driven by the speaker of parliament.
Karayancheva crashed on September 15, 2019 near Hitrino, while traveling in a two-car NSO convoy from Silistra, where she was a guest on vacation in the city, to Shumen.
The catastrophe
The Interior Ministry announcement after the incident indicated that Karayancheva’s car was hit by a 31-year-old driver of a car in which her 33-year-old husband and 10-year-old son were traveling. The police also claimed that “in a left turn, the woman entered a sandy area, lost control of the car and collided with the approaching NSO Mercedes,” in which Karayancheva was traveling. However, television footage from the scene showed that there was room for three cars to pass at the fork in Varbak village. According to Shumen media, the caravan was in front of a truck, but the police did not report anything about it. The audio host, who spoke to the media only once, said she was driving at no more than 80 km / h.
After the incident, Karayancheva was taken to a hospital in Shumen with a broken clavicle and an injured vertebra in her spine, and was later transported by helicopter to the government hospital in Sofia and operated there. “Two people were taken to the hospital for examination: Tsveta Karayancheva and a 10-year-old girl traveling in the auditorium, who was later released,” said the director of the Shumen Interior Ministry, Chief Commissioner Yalchen Rasim. However, according to media reports, the boy was admitted to hospital for several days. No information was given about her, while the status of the speaker of parliament was announced every few hours.
Pre-trial proceedings
In the case, the Shumen District Prosecutor’s Office formed pretrial proceedings for inflicting negligence of moderate bodily injury. It was not known if it was directed against the driver of the car, nor was it reported that he was charged. The family went into hiding immediately after the accident, after giving their only statement in the media that they had not violated traffic regulations. After that, people refused to speak to journalists and according to their friends, quoted anonymously in the media, they no longer even live in Bulgaria. In the immediate aftermath of the accident, there were reports that the family was afraid to speak out about the case.
“I really wanted to call my family in the first few days after I had recovered emotionally and ask how they were doing, but was advised not to do so because it could feel like pressure. I wanted to ask how is the child and how is the family, but the yellow media and internet trolls did not allow it. I’ll do it, call them and meet them, “Karayancheva said on” Nova TV “at the end of December last year – during his first media appearance after the accident.
A year after the accident, a spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office made a reference and announced: “The case was terminated because Ms. Karayancheva expressed her desire not to punish the perpetrator. Such a possibility exists at 343, para. 2 of the Penal Code – “The criminal process is terminated if the victim so requests.”
Orlin Kuzdov emphasized that the law allows the termination of proceedings in such cases when there is only bodily injury or property damage. “There is such a possibility in substantive law, since the victim can say that he does not want the perpetrator to be punished. And since there is no punishment, there is no crime,” said a spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office. “Karayancheva has expressed such a wish, her statement that she wants the investigation to be terminated has been recorded,” he added.
The spokesperson diverted Dnevnik’s additional questions for next week because the process was at the District Attorney’s Office and he had to make a referral.
Dnevnik also sent questions to Tsveta Karayancheva about why she asked for this, at what stage of the inspection and also whether she was not wearing a seat belt during the accident.
Unresolved issues
The law allows the termination of the criminal process at the request of the victim. In this case, however, the circumstances remain unclear. It is not explained when the technical expertise of the case was ready, what they found, what the investigators revealed, how it was established that the NSO driver was innocent and the responsibility lies with the 31-year-old driver.
Nor is it clear what the internal inspection of the NSO has established. On September 18 last year, three days after the accident, the NSO press service told Dnevnik: “Preliminary procedures are currently underway, which will clarify all the facts about the incident with the Speaker of Parliament. Tsveta Karayancheva on Sunday, including who in the National Security Service car was wearing a seat belt. “
The fact that Karayancheva was the most injured in the accident, despite the fact that the blow was from the front to the left and the guard habitually drove from the back to the right, raised suspicions that she was traveling without a seat belt in violation of the Law traffic. A fine is provided for this.
The Public Procurement Law does not give the right to NSO employees to drive or travel without a seat belt, but according to long-term service employee Rumen Ralchev, there are unwritten rules that this is allowed for security guards to be able to react faster in a critical situation.
The Interior Ministry announced the incident without naming the victims. According to the announcement, the sign of a traffic accident on the Shumen – Silistra highway appeared shortly after 10.30 am. Then, the experts commented in the media that the complaints from the Interior Ministry did not correspond to the photos shown from the scene of the incident. During the inspection, traffic was completely closed there, but unlike other cases, this time what the expertise showed was not reported. Only the tests performed on the drivers of the two alcoholic cars were reported to be negative. It was unclear if they had repeat blood tests.
When questioned by journalists immediately after the accident, the Shumen Interior Ministry leadership stated that road accidents are complex crimes and the main ones are the conclusions of the experts. Questions were not answered if Karayancheva was wearing a seatbelt, how fast her caravan was traveling, if she was entering oncoming traffic. It is not clear what the interviewed witnesses said.
Without clarity on these issues, on the day of the accident, according to the statements of the Interior Ministry, the Prosecutor’s Office, the NSO, the driver of the car was found guilty.
The explanation of the appellate prosecutor’s office in Varna
Because after the incident there were many suspicions and suspicions that the possible culpability of the NSO is being covered up and that there were unclear circumstances surrounding the accident, we asked the Varna Appeal Prosecutor’s Office the following questions: if the 31-year-old driver was charged, how was it established that she was the culprit of the accident and not the driver. from NSO, what tests were done to prove this, how fast was Karayancheva’s caravan moving and how fast was the other car, what exonerates the NSO caravan.
These are the responses we received from the prosecution:
The 31-year-old Audi driver was charged pursuant to art. 343, para. 1, letter “b” of the Penal Code for serious / moderate bodily injury caused. This charge provides a prison sentence of up to 4 years for serious bodily harm and up to 3 years or probation for moderate bodily harm.
It’s his fault established with complex technical expertise in automobiles and eyewitness testimony. In the case, a complex self-technical examination and two forensic medical examinations were prepared: one of the victim Karayancheva, the second of an NGO employee, who was slightly injured.
However, we did not receive an answer to the question about the speed of the two cars, since the prosecutor in the case was not in her office at that time and did not remember them by heart, said the Appeals Prosecutor’s Office, but noted that these data appear in the case.
When asked what exonerates the caravan from the NSO, the Prosecution said this was established by complex automotive technical expertise and witness testimony. “There is no acquittal here, blame is sought here. Without a doubt it has been established that the other car was guilty,” the spokesman said.
The 31-year-old driver was charged, but the pre-trial process ended. “Tsveta Karayancheva has demanded that the perpetrator of this accident not be punished. He is right,” the prosecution stressed.
The investigation ended in the summer. If Karayancheva had not requested this, she would have acted on the charges, the Appeals Prosecutor’s Office said.
