Only in Bulgaria being famous could provide you with favourable sentence, Krassimir Gorsov, father of Manuela Gorsova, one of the victims in the car accident, caused by two-times ice skating world champion Maxim Staviski, told a news conference on May 12.

On May 7 2008, Bourgas' Court of Appeal rejected the appeal against the suspended sentence Staviski received, a ruling that Gorsov says he will challenge in a higher court.

Staviski was sentenced to two years and six months suspended sentence in January 2008, with a five-year probation period, for causing the death of a man and seriously injuring Gorsova. He was driving under the influence of alcohol.

The last decision of the court was senseless, Gorsov said, as quoted by Focus news agency. In any normal country being famous would only lead to a harsher sentence. Obviously, only in Bulgaria it is the opposite, he said. The court in Bourgas had issued such suspended sentences in similar cases before, but only when the victim and the defendant were relatives.

Gorsov said that he was disappointed, but not surprised by the fact that his appeal was overruled. The court's decision would be appealed, Gorsov and his lawyer Hristo Hristov said. The higher instance in this case is the Supreme Court of Cassation.

According to Grosov, Staviski's lawyers had made a lot and had spent a lot of money on the case, and should a small part of that energy have been used on his daughter, he would have seen the situation in a different way. “We haven’t heard from Staviski since February, no one had asked for any information on the actual condition of the victim, looking to help,” Gorsov said.

Manuela was still in a coma, there was no improvement or development, he said, with doctors saying they could do nothing to help her. “Obviously there is a hole in the healthcare system and there is no rehabilitation,” he said. It could be years before Gorsova recovers, the medics had said.

Gorsova would be sent to Israel for treatment on May 18 or 19, Focus said. The family had already paid $65 000 to a clinic in Israel as a guarantee. Gorsova would not be operated, but her treatment would cost nearly $1000 per day. Gorsov family was awaiting a conformation from the Israeli air company, that it would provide the space needed for the transportation of the victim.

Hristov refuted the reports that Staviski had offered 80 000 leva for the medical treatment of the girl. The victim needed special medical aid and rehabilitation therapist, which cost around 200 leva per day, paid by her family over the past nine months after the accident.

Some 273 000 leva had already been collected from donations in the bank account of Gorsova, but her father said the money would probably be not enough.