*The image is AI-generated based on the original concept of the illustrator Albena Limoni.
From the very first days after Ana and Plamen’s wedding, quarrels began to erupt between them, often ending with him beating her. The arguments stemmed from a struggle for dominance – pitting her intellect against his physical superiority. Ana herself was highly educated, and her husband could not tolerate this – so he responded with violence.
Ana often confided in a friend about the nightmares she was living through, sharing that in addition to the physical abuse, her husband forced her to take part in sexual orgies against her will. She also spoke of his polygamous lifestyle, but despite everything, she refused to leave him because she loved him. Ana was placed in a position of complete subjugation – to the point where she was coerced into providing sexual services through manipulation, pressure, and fear.
The victim did not only share accounts of this physical abuse with friends, but also with her parents and her brother, at whose home she often stayed after the beatings. Her brother repeatedly begged her to leave her husband, but she always replied that she loved him too much to walk away. Despite all of Ana’s attempts to sustain the illusion of a normal relationship, her parents were also aware of what was happening. They had an arrangement to call her every evening to hear her voice and make sure their daughter was alive and well.
Over time, the couple’s relationship completely disintegrated, and five years into their marriage they were living more like roommates in their shared apartment. Not long after, they filed for divorce.
On the fatal night, Plamen asked to meet under the pretext that they needed to talk about the upcoming divorce. After going to a nearby shop to buy alcohol, he returned to the apartment where they had been living.
Once home, they began talking, but their conversation quickly escalated into an argument, during which Plamen smashed Ana’s phone. He then attacked her, hitting her, strangling her, and slamming her head against the wall and against the edge of the apartment’s chimney.
Ana and Plamen’s landlords heard the ongoing screams and blows but did nothing, showing complete indifference to the violence unfolding before their ears. After managing to break free from her attacker, Ana went upstairs to the couple and begged them to call the police. The man, however, merely told her to take herself to the nearest police station, despite clearly seeing the signs of abuse.
Ana returned home along with the landlords, Todor and Tsvetana. With indifference, Todor turned to Plamen and simply told him to stop arguing with his wife. He even reproached Ana, saying she should stop provoking her husband. After that, Ana went into her bedroom, shut the door. The landlords left while Plamen called his mother and calmly packed his belongings, leaving his victim alone. At that moment, Ana locked the door and slid the bolt.
This was followed by phone calls between Ana and Plamen, after which he blocked her number, claiming she had been shouting at him.
The next morning, Ana’s parents tried to reach her by phone, but without success. Her mother went to the apartment building, and contacted the landlords with the help of the police. They could not find the keys to the apartment and called Plamen. No one was able to open the door, as the bolt was shut from inside. With the help of a ladder, a police officer entered through the window. Inside, amidst the chaos left behind from the beating, lay Ana’s dead body.
She had died in extreme agony, as a result of brain compression from a subdural hematoma. It often happens in such cases, it is characteristic that vomit gets aspirated in the airways. This type of hemorrhage usually includes a “lucid interval,” during which there are no clear symptoms that can be perceived as life-threatening. During this period, she could perform ordinary activities without suspecting the severity of her trauma. The compression syndrome developed later, with suppression of brain function and clouded consciousness. At that stage, Ana was no longer able to react adequately or seek help.