ANGUELOVA v. BULGARIA JUDGMENT
13
had spent the afternoon and evening of 28 January 1996 with
Mr Zabchekov, and also heard Dr Mihailov and Dr Ivanova.
66. Two of the police officers, Sergeant Penchev (A) and
Sergeant Georgiev (F), mentioned Mr Zabchekov's ethnic origin in their oral
evidence to the military investigator.
A stated that when he had arrived at Beli Lom Street he had seen two
persons emerging from the entrance of the building, one of whom had been
“a Gypsy with a criminal record – Anguel Zabchekov”.
In his statement F. referred to the applicant's son as “the Gypsy” (three
times), “the arrested” (seven times) and “Zabchekov” (twice).
67. On 12 March 1996 the investigator conducted examinations of the
witnesses Ms I.A., Ms I. M., C and D. His questions related solely to the
number of times Mr Zabchekov had fallen to the ground during the chase on
Beli Lom Street and the places where this had happened.
On 18 March 1996 the investigator appointed an expert to analyse the
clothes which Mr Zabchekov had been wearing on 28 and 29 January 1996.
In his report of 20 March 1996 the expert stated that no traces of shoe soles
could be found but explained that microscopic remains from particles from
a shoe sole would not normally be left on soft fabric.
68. On 20 March 1996 the investigator conducted a reconstruction of the
events during Mr Zabchekov's arrest in order to clarify the witnesses'
evidence. Those taking part were Sergeant Mutafov (C), the young man
who had been with him on 28 and 29 January (D), and the two persons who
had observed the scene from their balconies, Ms I.A. and Ms I.M. The
police officers who had arrived at Beli Lom Street after Mr Zabchekov was
arrested by C did not participate in the reconstruction, which was almost
exclusively concerned with the events before the arrival of the two police
cars. The reconstruction was videotaped.
69. On 11 April 1996 the applicant submitted to the Varna Military
Prosecutor's Office a request for the exhumation of her son's body and for
the assignment of a new medical expert, stating that her son had been buried
in haste and that exhumation of his body was essential. The applicant
suspected that her son's ribs might have been broken. She also submitted to
the investigator, Mr Atanasov, two X-ray photographs of her son's head
taken several months before his death, to be used for the purpose of
establishing whether his skull had been “soft” or “thin”.
70. On 17 or 18 April 1996 five medical experts were appointed to reexamine the conclusions as regards the causes of Mr Zabchekov's death.
One of them, Dr Minchev, had participated in the initial group of experts.
The other four were Professor Pavlov, head of the forensic department at the
Medical University in Varna, Dr Kiuchukov, from the university's
neurosurgery department, and Dr Dokov and Dr Radoinova, senior
assistants in the forensic department of the same university. The experts
were asked the following questions: