4
ANGUELOVA v. BULGARIA JUDGMENT
16. Sergeant Dimitrov (“G”), one of the police officers who arrived
later, stated as follows: “When we arrived on the spot [C] told us that while
he was trying to arrest Mr Zabchekov the latter ran away and fell two or
three times and that if he had not fallen C would not have been able to catch
up with him.”
C. Events between Mr Zabchekov's arrest and the arrival of the
police
17. The witnesses were unanimous that, while C had been leading
Mr Zabchekov back to the entrance of the block of flats, the latter had
slipped and fallen. There were discrepancies as to precisely how that had
happened. Ms I.M., who observed the incident from her balcony, stated that
when C and Mr Zabchekov had reappeared from around the corner of the
building, the latter had slipped, fallen and rolled over. D stated, however,
that Mr Zabchekov's leg had slipped and he had fallen on his buttocks. C
maintained that Mr Zabchekov had in fact only slipped but had not fallen,
because he had been holding him.
18. C stated that he had not hit Mr Zabchekov and had not seen anyone
hitting him. That was confirmed by Ms I.A. and Ms I.M. The latter, who
was also the owner of one of the cars in the car park, clarified that she had
indeed seen Mr Zabchekov rolling on the ground when C was leading him
back after the chase, but stated that she had not seen anyone kicking him or
beating him. D did not mention whether he had seen anyone hitting
Mr Zabchekov.
19. C also stated that when he had been in close contact with
Mr Zabchekov after arresting him he had not noticed any traces of blood or
any grazes on his face. He added that Mr Zabchekov's hair covered part of
his forehead and that the colour of his face was dark. D stated that he had
not noticed any blood or grazing on Mr Zabchekov's face. He added that the
latter smelled of alcohol.
20. Having apprehended Mr Zabchekov, C asked Ms I.M. to call the
police, which she did at about 12.20 a.m. Afterwards, she remained inside
her flat.
21. C, D and Mr Zabchekov waited at the entrance of the block of flats,
apparently for about ten or twenty minutes. It appears that Ms I.A., who
stayed on her balcony, did not have a view of the entrance.
22. The witnesses' statements contain few details as to whether there
was any kind of verbal exchange between Mr Zabchekov and any of them
before the arrival of the police. Some of the witnesses stated that
Mr Zabchekov had been mumbling something barely comprehensible.
According to Ms I.M., who was watching from her balcony, Mr Zabchekov
had repeated several times that he was drunk. Ms I.A., Ms I.M. and C stated
that, when Mr Zabchekov had fallen to the ground after being arrested, C