On July 5th 2022, Georgi Semerdzhiev, a former Bulgarian football player, fled the scene of a murder after he ran a red light, stuck a taxi and crashed into an elevator causing the car to split in half and claim the lives of two female pedestrians. At the time of the accident he was driving a Black Audi with a fake swiss, six-digit license plate and police lights. He was allegedly accompanied by a woman Paolina Petrakieva (Bulgarian: Паолина Петракиева) suspected to be the wife of his business partner, Hristiyan Petrakiev (Bulgarian: Християн Петракиев).
Who is Georgi Semerdzhiev?
Georgi Semerdzhiev (Bulgarian: Георги Семерджиев) 36, is a former professional Football player from Bulgaria, who played as a forward for Levski. After a short career, He became more widely known throughout the local communities for his illegal activities, including his gang affiliation, large amounts of traffic violations and reputation as a drug dealer in Bulgaria.
As PIK reported, in the last year Semerdzhiev managed to create his own drug distribution group. More than 10 dealers worked for him, selling cocaine in different parts of Sofia. The group managed to settle in the drug market after the arrest of most of the gangs in Sofia by the Ministry of Internal Affairs during the time of Boyko Borisov.
Known Associates:
Hristiyan Petrakiev (Bulgarian: Християн Петракиев)
Criminal History:
- On June 11, he was caught behind the wheel after using drugs.
- He has not had a license since 2009 – it was taken away from him due to a lack of checkpoints.
- In 2021, he starts driving with a fake Swiss license.
- After 2021, there are fines for running a red light, tinted windows and refusing to be tested for drug use.
Current Litigation:
- On trial for causing bodily harm (unrelated incident).
Political Ties?
Georgi is a close friend to Paolina Petrakieva (instagram). Although Paolina may widely be known as Mrs. Bulgaria, 2010, she is also the Deputy Mayor of Pancherevo, a small lake-side town just outside the city limits of Sofia.
Bulgarian SWAT Team “COBRA” Conducts Raid
On the afternoon of July 6th 2022, The Bulgarian SWAT Team named “COBRA” was deployed to search, seize and detain Georgi Semerdzhiev. Officers were initially dispatched to Georgi’s parents’ home, at which point it was identified that Georgi lived at a different address in Lozenets, Sofia, Bulgaria. COBRA conducted the operation, in the middle of the day, and detained Georgi Semerdzhiev in his home for several hours. At this time, authorities have not revealed the current status of Georgi’s location – however, the Bulgarian Minister of Interior stated that Georgi was found in his home in an “inadequate” state.
At approximately 13:41 (UTC+2), Police Officers escorted Georgi Semerdzhiev out of his home and into a police van. This comes several hours after SWAT Officers from “COBRA” made contact with Georgi and kept him detained in his own home.
Raven Speaks Out:
1) What took police officers soo long to identify, locate and detain the suspect?
2) Why did police officers keep Georgi S. detained in his home for several hours?
3) What are the legal limits of driving under the influence in Bulgaria?
4) Does Georgi benefit metabolization of the drugs in his system 12+ hours after the incident occurs?
The Minister of Interior received a report that Georgi has displayed signs of being under the influence of drugs. Police Officers should have detained him and immediately taken him to a hospital to be tested for substances in his system. Lets take a look at a few narcotics and time it takes for them to leave the human body:
Cocaine: Cocaine’s half-life is roughly one hour. This means that it takes about an hour for the body to eliminate half of the cocaine currently in the bloodstream. However, long-term use may lead to longer elimination times, allowing certain tests to detect the drug in the system for an extended period.
Alcohol: On average, it takes about one hour to metabolize one standard drink. In terms of determining exactly how long alcohol is detectable in the body depends on many factors, including which kind of drug test is being used.
- Blood: Alcohol is eliminated from the bloodstream at about 0.015 per hour. Alcohol can show up in a blood test for up to 12 hours.
- Urine: Alcohol can be detected in urine for up 3 to 5 days via the ethyl glucuronide (EtG) test or 10 to 12 hours via the traditional method. (source)
Meth Amphetamines: Meth has a half-life of 9-24 hours. This means that it takes 9-24 hours for the amount of meth in a person’s blood to be reduced by half. With these three examples, it could occur that if Georgi was under the influence of any one (or all three) that the levels in his blood will be significantly lower when he is taken to the hospital to be tested
What does Bulgaria define as a “Legal Limit”
According to Article 343b of the Bulgarian Criminal Code (pdf), : (1) For the offense of drink-driving with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of up to 0.5 g per liter, when the violation has been ascertained following proper procedure, a punishment of imprisonment of one up to three years and a fine of BGN 200 up to BGN 1 000 shall be imposed.
(2) For the offense of drink-driving with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of more than 0.5 g per liter, when the violation has been ascertained following proper procedure, after committing the offense referred to in paragraph 1 for which the perpetrator has already received an effective sentence, a punishment of imprisonment of one up to five years and a fine of BGN 500 up to BGN 1 500 shall be imposed.
(3) For the offense of driving after the use of narcotic drugs or their analogs, a punishment of imprisonment of one up to three years and a fine of BGN 500 up to BGN 1 500 shall be imposed.
According to this Code, Georgi should be subject to imprisonment regardless what the amount found in his system is.
Prosecution
Yasen Todorov, Deputy Director of the National Investigation Service – Bulgaria
“There is going to be a search and seizure from the residence, but we are waiting for a defense attorney for the person, and he wants to have a defense attorney. He was adequate to the point of giving me his mother’s phone and she found him a protector. He doesn’t say anything, he’s alone right now. After the search of his home is completed, which he must attend, he will be taken to a medical facility where the appropriate samples will be taken. He cannot be brought to court first, because if we take him out of the scene of the accident, after some time his lawyers may plead that something was not preserved at the scene of the accident and we violated his rights,” Yasen Todorov explained.
Iliana Kirilova, City Prosecutor – Sofia, Bulgaria
An investigation is currently underway, after a search of the apartment, which will take place when a lawyer arrives, Semerdzhiev will be taken to a laboratory for testing. Georgi Semerdzhiev was adequate enough to provide a telephone for his mother to call for a lawyer, who is currently expected. After comparative samples are taken from the detainee, it will be decided what charges should be brought against him , Iliana Kirilova added. She emphasized that some time ago the Chief Prosecutor’s Office submitted a proposal to reformulate the indictment precisely with the aim of simplifying the prosecution procedures, and in the accident in which Milen Tsvetkov died, and a request to amend the Criminal Code so that drivers in such able to be punished more severely. Until now, however, the legislators have not commented on the proposals of the prosecutor’s office.
Raven Speaks Out:
1) The Ministry of Interior and Prosecution Team are seeking eyewitnesses?
Why look for eyewitnesses when you have dozens of street/business surveillance and monitoring camera systems in place…
In the above photo, you can observe the shopping mall (red), elevator shaft (green), accident site (blue) and overlapping fields of view street cameras (orange).
In the above photo, you can see the elevator shaft (highlighted in green), the shopping mall (highlighted in red) and the street camera (highlighted in orange – right)
In this view of the accident scene, you can see the orange highlighted area matches the image below (depicting a camera facing the main street). The green highlighted object is the elevator/lift which was struck by Georgi S.
It would appear that the city investigators need to utilize their public resources to obtain the traffic camera footage to serve as video proof and documentation of what occurred.
