My name is Teodora Popova, I worked in a risky profession for many years – air traffic controller - just like the policeman who committed suicide, Dimitar Petrov, worked in a risky profession in law enforcement.
Professionals in risky professions - police, military, pilots, air traffic controllers - in the event of an accident at work are always investigated from the position of Inadvertent and Inadvertent Error. In one of the biggest plane crashes in 2002 in the skies above Überlingen, in which 71 people died, 45 of them children returning from school holidays, the flight controller who was on duty at the time of the crash, Peter Nielsen, he was never sued, kept his job (moved to a quieter department) and enjoyed the full solidarity of his colleagues (every one of them could have been in his place). Peter Nielsen was immediately provided with psycho-social support to help him overcome his massive post-traumatic stress disorder, which could lead to suicide. The Überlingen investigation found a number of technical and procedural errors at Skyguide (the Swiss air traffic control authority), for which three managers received suspended sentences.
In complete contrast, in our country a decent officer in a risky profession, in the performance of his duty, chasing recidivist criminals, shoots one of the bandits who attacked and robbed young Bulgarian girls. The repeat thief refused to obey a police order repeated 3 times and a warning shot fired. In a situation requiring a split-second decision, under enormous pressure, Dimitar Petrov did what was necessary to stop the criminal. Dimitar Petrov himself risked getting hurt. After the shooting of Svetoslav Mladenov, police officer Dimitar Petrov is the one who calls an ambulance.
As it is beyond any doubt that Peter Nilsen did not start his shift with the thought of causing the death of 45 children and 26 adults, so I am deeply confident that Dimitar Petrov did not start his shift thinking “ Hey, now I'm drinking a coffee and I'm going to find Svetoslav Mladenov to shoot him“.
In this regard, I am deeply outraged and in complete perplexity as to how the investigation and the prosecutor's office decided to classify the incident at work as premeditated murder. To teach the investigator and the prosecutor how to handle incidents in risky professions. Working in risky professions is not like sitting quietly at your desk and flipping through documents. Situations often require making quick and difficult decisions, often choosing between a bad decision and a less bad decision. There is often no perfect solution. The ideal solution would be to not have aggressive thieves who attack young girls with metal rods in front of malls.
One other element in the investigation against Dimitar Petrov, which was written about in the press, deeply disgusts me: Dimitar Petrov was “crushed” (the word used in the publications) by the investigation and the prosecution during the investigation for more than a year, mentally abused, publicly insulted, called a murderer. No psycho-social assistance was provided to him. On the contrary, he was fired from the job he loved. I suspect that instead of showing solidarity, his fellow officers distanced themselves from him for fear of getting into trouble. Now they go to his funeral and vigils, after rain a hood. It doesn't take much to stand in solidarity with a colleague in a difficult moment, a simple “Brotheró, let's have a beer“ would do a great job. Did any of Dimitar Petrov's colleagues do this for him?
These omissions should be investigated:
lack of psychological help;
the unacceptable treatment as a simple murderer of a worthy employee (rewarded for good work) in a risky profession;
the use of psycho-emotional abuse as a method of extracting confessions. Reminds me of the methods used in Guantanamo.
I learn from the press that both the prosecutor and the investigator are women. I wonder to these women and mothers how they mentally ruined this young man without an iota of humanity. There is no way these women could not have seen that Dimitar Petrov had hit the bottom of despair and was on the edge of the abyss from which there was no return. Did they even care what hell this good, brave policeman was going through. Or they wanted to finish their file and be proud that in Bulgaria we care more about thieves and rapists than about those who save us from them.
Many Bulgarian mothers and their children sleep soundly at night, thanks to the work of police officers like Dimitar Petrov. A Bulgarian mother and a loving friend lose a worthy son and a beloved man on a cold winter night, while others sleep peacefully, including those who pushed him to commit suicide. Dimitar Petrov dies desperate, alone like a dog. In the cold winter night, his body dangles from a post by the side of the road, until passers-by find him in the morning. This gallant young man died wearing the police uniform he was so proud of. His message is clear.
Dimitar Petrov did not deserve such a terrible death, he should be rehabilitated.