Seven years after the brutal murder of Michail Stoyanov, Sofia City Court convicted the two accused for the death of the young medical student. According to Gama News, a Bulgarian LGBTI media outlet, Alexander Georgiev was sentenced to 13 years in prison and Radoslav Kirchev, who was a minor at the time of the murder, was sentenced to four years and 10 months. They have to pay a total of 250,000 leva to the family of Michail.

Stoyanov was brutally beaten on September 30, 2008, in Sofia’s Borisova Gardens. According to the medical report, he died of suffocation. In the course of the investigation, Kirchev and Georgiev admitted they aimed to "cleanse the park of gays." The two men were detained two years after the murder after investigators found them through Michail’s cell phone.

The sentence is not final and can be appealed before the Court of Appeal in Sofia. Hristina Stoyanova, the mother of the victim, said she isn't satisfied with the sentence.

Hate crime legislation

The case became emblematic of the problems facing Bulgaria's justice system, with its long pre-trial proceedings and shortcomings in the indictment. In recent weeks, it became clear that the police officer investigating the case had been a personal acquaintance of one of the witnesses (also a member of a homophobic group) and did not question him. The witness then had to be interrogated remotely.

The murder of Michael Stoyanov prompted LGBTI activists to call for a new criminal code, one that includes sexuality as a prohibited hate motive. Despite the many protests and petitions to numerous national and international organizations, Bulgarian prosecutors still have no law upon which to prosecute violent acts against LGBTI people as hate crimes.