Man kicks Yorkshire terrier to death in Sofia, surrenders to police after protest
Yordan Atanasov, accused of the brutal killing of a dog in the Sofia neighbourhood of Krastova Vada, surrendered voluntarily to the Interior Ministry's Sofia directorate accompanied by his lawyer. Hundreds of residents protested following the incident.
Man suspected of killing dog in Krastova Vada surrenders after resident protest
Yordan Atanasov, a software developer accused of kicking a nine-year-old female Yorkshire terrier to death in the Sofia neighbourhood of Krastova Vada, voluntarily surrendered to the Capital Directorate of the Interior Ministry (SDVR), accompanied by his lawyer, according to Novinite.com. Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev confirmed the news through a Facebook post.
Atanasov was detained and taken to the Fourth Police Directorate of the Interior Ministry for the necessary procedural actions, Demerdzhiev stated. Police responded immediately after receiving a report of the animal's death, and after the suspect went into hiding, a nationwide search was issued for him.
"Violence against animals cannot be ignored. Cruelty towards defenceless creatures is not only unacceptable, but it is also a red flag signalling a potential predisposition to violence against people," Demerdzhiev stated.
The incident
The incident occurred on Sunday shortly before 21:00 on Ivan Kolev Street, near the intersection with Ivailo Petrov Street. Security camera footage captured a man delivering a powerful kick to the three-kilogramme dog – it flew through the air and hit a parked car, after which it stopped moving.
The dog's owner, Snezhana Kishtuk, wrote on Facebook that the animal – named Knopa – was kicked while it was simply walking past the entrance to the building where the man lived. She described Knopa as a gentle and affectionate dog that had shown no aggression whatsoever.
Malvina Yovchevska, another resident of the neighbourhood, stated on social media that she had entered into a conflict with the man just minutes before the incident whilst walking her dogs. The man followed her and accused her of walking on private property, despite the fact that she was on the pavement. When she responded to him that there were no private property signs and he had no right to order her around, the man kicked one of her dogs with his foot.
Previous reports
Two days before Knopa's death, on Friday at around 08:30, a woman named Tanya Bozhkova filed a report with police against the same man, providing video footage. Speaking to television station NOVA, she recounted that she was walking her two-kilogramme dog on the pavement in front of the building when the man began hurling insults at her.
"The only thing I managed to do at that moment was to keep my composure and tell him that there was a camera behind me and everything was being recorded. Then the man simply walked away in an unknown direction," Bozhkova said. The man had kicked her dog forcefully in the abdomen, hurling it approximately half a metre into the air. The animal survived.
Bozhkova added that afterwards she was contacted by other women who had experienced similar aggressive behaviour from the same man. An owner of two French bulldogs shared that she was attacked in the same manner just a minute before the incident with Bozhkova's dog.
Protest and investigation launched
The incident provoked a mass protest – hundreds of residents of Krastova Vada took to the street the evening before. Three complaints have been filed against Atanasov with police and a pre-trial investigation has been opened under the supervision of the District Prosecutor's Office. Immediately following the incident, a nationwide search was issued for the suspect.
Source: Novinite.com