On February 20, Sofia Military Court of Appeals (SMCA) returned for re-trial the case of five police officers that had been sentenced to a total of 91 years imprisonment for the death of Angel Dimitrov for reviewing.

The SMCA said that the Sofia Military Court, which sentenced the policemen, had not been entirely objective. The five policemen were found guilty of causing the death of Dimitrov, dubbed Chorata, in Blagoevgrad in 2005.

The appeals court also argued that the lower instance court had breached legal procedures when accepting the prosecution's request to change the indictment bill. At first, the policemen were accused in unpremeditated murder, but it was later changed to premeditated murder.

SMCA said that after the change of indictment, the judges had to withdraw and pass the case to a new panel, which they failed to do.

Alleged drug dealer Dimtrov was arrested by the head of the Blagoevgrad regional anti-organised crime unit major Miroslav Pissov, captain Ivo Ivanov, senior lieutenant Boris Mehandzhiiski and sergeants Yanko Grahovski and Georgi Kalinov in 2005 as part of special operation Respect, launched by Interior Minister Roumen Petkov.

Dimitrov died while in custody. At first Petkov defended the five claiming that Dimitrov died of a heart attack, which was said to have been caused by the shock of the detention. The second coroner report, however, said that Dimitrov had died after being seriously beaten.

In November 2006, the five police officers, who have always claimed to be innocent, were sentenced to a total of 91 years in prison. SMCA's ruling effectively annulled the sentence.

The court ruling came hours after General-Prosecutor Boris Velchev said that one of the main reason for the small number of sentences issued on cases of great public interest was  breaches in legal procedures.