Death of a TV journalist: prosecutors challenge early release of the driver
A court has ordered the conditional early release of the convicted man. Sofia prosecutors see no rehabilitation – he remains in prison until a ruling.
Symbolic image · Photo: Bin im Garten / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped and resized)
On Oct. 22, a court ordered the conditional early release of Kristian N., who was convicted over the death of a well-known television journalist. The crash in which the journalist died happened in April 2020 in Sofia; the case is linked to driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol. The Sofia City Prosecutor's Office announced it would protest the decision. According to spokesman Nikolay Nikolaev, the first legal condition – serving at least half of the sentence – is met, but not the second: proof that the convict has been rehabilitated.
The prison administration also sees no rehabilitation, Nikolaev said, according to BNT. "So he remains in prison until the legal dispute is resolved," he said. The Sofia Court of Appeal will decide. The journalist's first wife told BNT she could not comment on the court's decision; the law allows convicts to seek early release under certain conditions. "If we want to be a modern and civilised society, the laws must be observed by everyone," she said. The family never wanted the longest possible prison term, only justice, bTV reported.