More than three years after Hristijan Pendikov, secretary of a Bulgarian cultural club in Ohrid, was beaten, a local court has acquitted the two men charged in the attack. The ruling came after the Bitola Court of Appeals ordered the case to be retried. The hearing lasted less than two and a half hours, with no new evidence presented, Bulgarian National Television reported.
The court said prosecutors had failed to prove that the defendants committed the alleged crime and that an ethnic motive for the attack could not be established. Pendikov’s legal team expressed strong dissatisfaction with the decision, which overturned the same judge’s earlier ruling.
In the initial trial, defendants Ilija Spaseski and Borche Angelov were sentenced to eight months in prison for inflicting serious bodily injuries.
“I am ashamed of this verdict. Acquitting them despite all the video evidence is disgraceful”, Pendikov said, arguing that the ruling could encourage attacks against people who identify as Bulgarian in North Macedonia.
Bulgarian lawmakers attended the hearing to show their support for Pendikov. The January 2023 attack and the latest ruling could further strain relations between North Macedonia and Bulgaria, which have faced longstanding disputes over European Union integration and bilateral issues.