Ohrid court acquits the two defendants over the attack on Pendikov, Sofia says it supports him

On October 22 the Basic Court in Ohrid acquitted Borče Angelov and Ilija Spaseski of the charge of physically attacking Hristijan Pendikov, a former secretary of a Bulgarian club in Ohrid. According to reports, the court found it was not proven that the two committed the act and that there is no evidence of an ethnic motive. Under the presumption of innocence, the two are treated as acquitted, not guilty.

The case has a long history. The attack took place in January 2023. After the first proceedings, the two were sentenced to eight months in prison each for inflicting grievous bodily harm. According to Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry, in 2025 the first-instance court imposed light sentences and dropped the hate motive, after which the Court of Appeal in Bitola sent the case back for retrial. At the new trial, according to BNT, the hearing lasted about two and a half hours and no new evidence was presented.

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Pendikov's lawyer, Stefan Kamishevski, expressed dissatisfaction. He assessed that the judge had practically reversed his own earlier verdict and said the attack was ethnically motivated. Pendikov himself said he is ashamed of the verdict and that it shows anyone who declares themselves Bulgarian in Macedonia can be beaten without consequences. Those are his statements. Bulgarian MPs also attended the hearing.

Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry said at 17:41 on October 22 it offers “full support to Hristijan Pendikov and all Bulgarians in the Republic of North Macedonia” and that Bulgaria will keep supporting their struggle for equal rights. The ministry says the beating left Pendikov needing long treatment in Bulgaria, and linked the case to the 2022 European compromise, which it says has not been fulfilled, adding that this affects North Macedonia's European integration.

That is the position of the Bulgarian ministry, not an established legal assessment. On the Macedonian side, the available reports cite no official reaction from the ministry or government, so I cannot present their position.

What follows legally? According to reports, Pendikov's side has no right of appeal at this stage, and the next step depends on the prosecution, which is expected to appeal to a higher court. That means the verdict is not final and the proceedings can continue.

What is not known? It is not known whether the prosecution will actually appeal, or when. Nor is it known exactly what the written reasoning of the verdict says, since the available reports carry only a short account. It is also unclear whether the case will affect the talks between Skopje and Sofia that have been going on in recent weeks.

What does it mean? A court decision and a political dispute are two separate things: the court decides on evidence, while political reactions read the verdict through relations between the two countries. Until the outcome of an appeal is known, the safest way to read the case is as a non-final first-instance verdict, not a finished story.

MKNews Hub · Macedonia · October 23, 2026