Court in Ohrid Acquits Attackers of Hristijan Pendikov

The court in Ohrid acquitted the attackers of Hristijan Pendikov.

More than three years after the brutal assault on Hristijan Pendikov, secretary of the Bulgarian club in Ohrid, the Basic Court in the city has acquitted the defendants charged with the attack. The ruling comes after the Court of Appeal in Bitola once again referred the case back to the court of first instance.

Today’s hearing (on October 22) lasted nearly two and a half hours and concluded without any new evidence being heard. The court announced that it had not been proven that the two defendants committed the crime of which they were accused, and that an ethnic motive for the attack could not be established.

Pendikov’s legal team expressed strong dissatisfaction with the judge’s dramatic reversal of position, which effectively overturned the judge’s own previous ruling. At first instance, the defendants, Borche Angelov and Ilija Spaseski, were each sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment for causing grievous bodily harm.

Stefan Kamishevski – lawyer: “For us, there is no doubt that the act was committed for ethnic reasons. No other facts or evidence pointing to a different motive emerged during the entire proceedings.”

He explained that the defence had no right to appeal at this stage and that everything now rested with the prosecution, which is expected to challenge the ruling before a higher court.

Hristijan Pendikov himself made no attempt to hide his indignation after hearing the court’s decision:

“I am ashamed of this verdict. To have an acquittal despite all the video evidence presented is shameful and disgraceful. With this decision, the court is giving the green light for anyone who identifies as Bulgarian in Macedonia to be beaten with impunity, without anyone facing consequences.”

Pendikov added that the incident on 19 January 2023 had opened the door to three years of daily harassment, insults and slander directed at him and his family. According to him, countries that do not respect human dignity and the rule of law have no place in the European Union. Members of the Bulgarian Parliament also attended the hearing in support of Pendikov.