European Court decision on the admissibility of application of Anelia Nachova and Others against Bulgaria

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On 28 February 2002 the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg declared the two applications against Bulgaria concerning the killing in 1996 of Privates Angelov and Petkov admissible.

On 19 July 1996 Privates Angelov and Petkov were killed in the village of Lesura by a member of the military police who attempted to arrest them following their escape from a military detention facility. The investigation on the case was completed in November 1997 with the conclusion that the use of firearms by the military police was lawful, since the acting Regulations on the Military Police provided that police officers can use firearms "for the prevention of the escape of a person, lawfully detained for the committance of an offence." The Military Prosecutor's Office did not bring charges against the police officer.

The applicants allege a violation of the right to life of the victims, and failure to carry out an effective and unbiased investigation of the incident. They further claim that the Bulgarian law provides no effective remedy against the inaction of the prosecuting authorities, as well as a violation of the prohibition of discrimination. Because the two applications were identical, the Court united them under the name Anelia Nachova and Others against Bulgaria. top