Bulgarian MPs voiced support for Hristijan Pendikov on Thursday after an Ohrid court acquitted two men charged over his assault, with several criticizing the ruling.
“We are here to express our solidarity with and support for our compatriot Hristijan Pendikov, who was beaten nearly four years ago solely because he had the courage to state openly that he was of Bulgarian origin,” Progressive Bulgaria MP Stoyan Trichkov said after the hearing.
Earlier on Thursday, the Primary Court in Ohrid acquitted Borce Angelov and Ilija Spaseski in the case over the assault on Pendikov, secretary of the now-deregistered Tsar Boris III association in the city.
The Bitola Court of Appeal had sent the case back for retrial after both the prosecution and the defence appealed the two defendants’ eight-month prison sentences for inflicting grievous bodily harm on Pendikov. The sentences were not suspended.
No new evidence was introduced at Thursday’s hearing, the only one held during the retrial. The judge said the reasons for the ruling would be provided in writing.
Trichkov said he could not comment on Thursday’s ruling, but added that it would be appealed. “What we expect is justice administered fairly, as befits a country that declares its ambitions for a European future,” he said.
“I am personally disappointed by the court’s ruling,” GERB MP Stefan Arsov said of the acquittals. “A few months earlier, the verdict was different. I cannot understand the actual reason for this,” he added.
Arsov said the rule of law should be considered in the context of North Macedonia’s status as a candidate for European Union membership. “I hope a higher court will deliver an appropriate verdict,” he added.
Asked whether they considered the case political because the same judge had issued radically different rulings on the same evidence, Arsov said he could not comment on whether it was political. “The fact is that a few months ago the same bench convicted them, and now, a few months later, we see that they have been acquitted. I leave it to Bulgarian citizens to judge whether it is political or not,” he said.
“The European path chosen by the Republic of North Macedonia requires guarantees that the rights of every citizen are respected and that the principle of the rule of law is applied,” said Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) MP Atidzhe Alieva-Veli.
“What the court did was scandalous,” Vazrazhdane MP Angel Yanchev said. “The judge who convicted the assailants, without any new evidence being introduced, (…) radically changed his position, which obliges Hristijan Pendikov, as a Bulgarian and a Bulgarian citizen, to appeal against this ruling,” he added.
Continue the Change MP Ivaylo Shotev described the ruling as a “surprise”. “As you all saw, the court made a 180-degree turn. We are here to support our compatriot. What we discussed is that he must continue to defend his rights and appeal against this decision,” he said.
In March 2025, Spaseski and Angelov were each sentenced to serve eight months in prison for inflicting grievous bodily harm on Pendikov in an assault outside an establishment in Ohrid on the evening of January 19, 2023.
Following the assault, Pendikov, the association’s secretary, was brought to the Military Medical Academy in Sofia for treatment. His injuries included two fractured vertebrae, a broken jaw, cracked ribs and three broken teeth. The Tsar Boris III association was later officially removed from North Macedonia’s registers.
