The sentences of Tsenko Chokov and his son, who brutally beat people in Galiche, were increased

The Appellate Specialized Criminal Court has increased the sentences of the scandalous former mayor of the White Latin village of Galiche, Tsenko Chokov, and his son Martin, defendants for participation in an organized criminal group, for usury, kidnapping, beating with bodily injuries, arson, Legal World reported.

The two were detained in 2016, and two years later the Specialized Criminal Court sentenced Tsenko Chokov to 4 years and 6 months in prison. He was found guilty of three of the five charges against him – kidnapping, beating and arson, and was found not guilty of usury and leading a criminal group.

His son Martin was found not guilty of participating in an organized crime group, but guilty of threatening to kill, beat and usury. The court imposed a total sentence of 4 years and a fine of BGN 5,000 for the two sentences.

Now the appellate special magistrates have accepted that the first-instance court correctly convicted the two Chokovs, but their sentences should be increased. Thus, the former mayor of Galiche received 5 years in prison and his son – 7 years.

Tsenko Chokov must also pay expenses in the amount of BGN 1,250, and Martin – in the amount of BGN 243.22.

In the courtroom, however, brutal details became known from the beatings that the father and son inflicted on people in Galiche.

“Die pig, beat him, can’t you beat him“- so shouted Tsenko Chokov, while stabbing a young man from the village with an ax to the head and body. His son also took part in the melee, who also kicked and hit the boy.

After taking his son to the hospital, the father of the beaten boy returned to the village of Galiche and met with Chokov, who told him: “I’m going to liquidate him, I’m going to crush this man.”

As a result of the brutal beating of the young man, a moderate bodily injury was inflicted, which manifested itself in a health disorder temporarily life-threatening – a concussion with complete loss of consciousness. As a result of the numerous blows inflicted by the defendants with the hands, feet and ax on the head and body of a private prosecutor, the latter received numerous injuries and bruises on the head and body, his left eye was damaged and he had difficulty urinating. His urine was bloody, his kidneys ached, and he had permanent erection problems.

From the factual side of the case there are more numerous cases of beatings and jokes with people from the village by Chokov.

His son Martin, on the other hand, was engaged in large-scale usury in the village when he was a minor. He distributed various sums of money from BGN 100 to over BGN 2,000 to local citizens, setting interest rates of around 20% or 30%. In one of the cases in which Martin went to collect the installments on the loans he had distributed, he addressed one of the debtors with the words: “Hey, aren’t you going to give me the interest anymore? How long will I wait for you?” Then he received the amount requested by him. There are dozens of cases described by the court.

In another case, on an unspecified date in January 2013, a local resident of Galiche was walking around the village with his friends. A white Toyota car stopped in front of them, from which the defendants Martin Chokov, Dimitar Kamenov and Ivan Yordanov Todorakov got out. The three of them started punching him, he fell to the ground, and the defendants started kicking him with their feet, after which they forced him into the trunk of the car, got into it and drove off. After a few meters, the trunk of the car opened, the three defendants got out of the car, took the man out of the trunk, put him in the cabin, in the back seat and drove off.

They went to the field between the village of Bardarski Geran and the village of Galiche. There, the three defendants pulled the victim out of the car and started beating him, kicking him, hitting him with their hands and shouting “now you will die”. The defendant Ivan Yordanov Todorakov said that he knew a deep geranium in Knezha, where it could be thrown and no one would find it. After they stopped beating him, Martin Chokov forcibly took off his victim’s suit and pants, made him lie on the ground on his stomach, defendant Kamenov sat on his back and Martin Chokov on his feet, the latter inserting a glass bottle into his anus.

Sentences can be appealed and protested before the Supreme Court of Cassation (SCC).

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