News

30 April 2025

The Ombudsman Institution sent letters to the Minister of Interior Daniel Mitov and to the Chairperson of the State Agency for Child Protection Teodora Ivanova to request a full investigation into the case of the beaten 11-year old boy in the town of Loukovit on 27 April 2025.

The letters responded to complaints from angry citizens and the tension that arose in Loukovit after the boy’s father found him with two broken arms and thrown into the local river.

The citizens and relatives of the injured boy want justice. As the father said, after he went to report to the police, he was ignored and it was only after the protests around the mayor’s office and the prosecutor’s office that the police acted. Initially, the committer of the crime was detained and released 24 hours later.

The case was reported to a prosecutor on duty from the District Prosecutor’s Office in Lovech and pre-trial proceedings were instituted as per Art. 129 of the Criminal Code while the police continues to act.

“The Ombudsman Institution condemns any violence against children and insists on your full investigation into the case. We appeal to the responsibility of each of us for the life, health and well-being of every child in Bulgaria,” the Secretary General of the Ombudsman Dr. Aysun Avdjiev writes to the top officials of the Ministry of Interior and of the State Agency for Child Protection.