ANGUELOVA v. BULGARIA JUDGMENT
3
All the witnesses (the owner of the bar, the person for whom
Mr Zabchekov had worked that day, his sister and her boyfriend, and
Mr Zabchekov's father, who was at home when his son dropped in on his
way to the bar) were unanimous that he had been in good health, that he had
no visible injuries on his body, that he had not been involved in any quarrel
or fight, and that he had consumed alcohol.
B. The chase in Beli Lom Street and Mr Zabchekov's arrest
12. At about midnight on 29 January 1996 a Ms I.A., who lived in a
block of flats in Beli Lom Street in Razgrad, noticed from her balcony a
man later identified as Mr Zabchekov hanging around by parked cars,
bending over and “doing something”. Ms I.A. telephoned a neighbour,
Ms I.M. The two women shouted at Mr Zabchekov from their balconies to
ask him what he was doing. At that moment Sergeant Mutafov (“C”), a
police officer who was not on duty that day, and a young man (“D”), both of
whom also lived in the same block of flats, were passing by in the street and
were alerted by their neighbours.
13. Mr Zabchekov attempted to run away, and C ran after him. The
chase apparently continued for a minute or two. Then D and his two
neighbours saw C appearing from around the corner, holding Mr Zabchekov
and leading him back to the entrance of the building. The witnesses stated
that there had been snow on the ground.
14. C later stated that while trying to run away Mr Zabchekov had
slipped and fallen down but had quickly stood up again. This was confirmed
by Ms I.A. and Ms I.M., who had been watching from their balconies. They
explained that Mr Zabchekov had fallen on a patch of grass. However, D,
who had remained in the street and had also observed the incident, stated
that he had not seen Mr Zabchekov falling at any moment before his arrest.
He repeated that statement at a confrontation with the other witnesses.
15. C was the only witness of the events between the moment when
Mr Zabchekov and he had turned round the corner and the moment when
they had reappeared in front of the building in Beli Lom Street. C stated that
Mr Zabchekov had slipped and fallen down two more times. As a result, C
had been able to catch up with him and, while Mr Zabchekov was back on
his feet and running, C had tripped him up, Mr Zabchekov had fallen to the
ground and C had pounced on him. C had then pulled Mr Zabchekov up by
the arm and had led him back. Asked to specify the part of his body on
which Mr Zabchekov had fallen, C replied that the boy had fallen on his
face. C could not remember whether Mr Zabchekov had protected his face
with his hands. C also stated that he had had difficulty in running and
apprehending Mr Zabchekov because he had had a leg injury and his
shoelaces had been untied.