Sofia City Court ruled on July 17 that the case of the murder of pharmacology student Stoyan Baltov, which prompted mass protests in December 2008, needed further investigating in light of new evidence presented during the trial, Bulgarian news agency BTA said.

The re-examination was requested by the plaintiff, in this case Baltov's parents, and their lawyer. The reason is that recent evidence apparently showed that a third man was involved in the fight that resulted in Baltov's death on the night of December 5 2008.

A witness in the case testified that the third man, previously called as a witness himself, participated in the fracas. Another witness told authorities that the man in question was drunk and barred from entering the Amnesia disco, in front of which Baltov was beaten to death.

The court ruled to release one of the two youths now indicted, Vili Georgiev, and placed him under house arrest, whereas the other defendant, Alexander Danailov, remains in custody.

Baltov (20), was beaten to death in the early hours of December 5 2008 by a group of drunk youths. He was leaving a night club when he and his friends were subjected to what has been described by witnesses as a "vicious unprovoked attack" by a group of other students. In the ensuing fight, Baltov suffered serious head damage to the head and died in hospital.

The incident happened in front the Amnesia night club in a busy area and, as witnesses claimed, no one interfered to stop the fight: neither the club's bodyguards, nor any of the passers-by.

The murder shocked the country and voices were raised against the street violence in general and the way Sofia's student quarter, Studentski Grad, was being run. 

The Interior Ministry promised more police presence in the neighbourhood, while a Sofia city hall check later found that oversight in the area was so poor that the majority of entertainment establishments had been built on land owned by universities, the municipality and the state.