Dam Square ‘killer’ hears demand of 18 years

27 May 2004

AMSTERDAM — The public prosecutor demanded an 18-year jail term in Amsterdam Court on Thursday against a 37-year-old Dutchman accused of shooting and killing a Bulgarian crime boss on Dam Square last December.

The defendant, identified only as E. V., is accused of shooting Konstantin Dimitrov, 33, in the head on 6 December among Saturday city shoppers in Amsterdam city centre. The culprit held a gun to the victim’s head and fired, killing the Bulgarian instantly.

The bullet bored through Dimitrov’s head and exited near his left eyebrow, hitting his girlfriend, 23-year-old Bulgarian photo model Tsetsi Petkova. She was hit in the head by the bullet but survived, news agency ANP reported.

A suspect was arrested in a cafe in De Pijp district of the city about an hour after the 3.45pm shooting. The man had stopped to order a cup of coffee and is suspected of having criminal links to the drug world.

Dimitrov and his girlfriend had been staying at the Krasnapolsky Hotel in Dam Square since the start of November 2003. The drugs baron had recently fled Bulgaria after surviving a gangland shoot out.

It was reported in January that the alleged brain behind the slaying of Dimitrov was arrested in the Bulgarian city of Sliven. The suspect, Yosif Yosifov, is alleged to have been in contact with the Dutchman accused of the December shooting.

Yosifov reportedly left the Netherlands three days before the liquidation. He allegedly played an important role in the export of amphetamines and heroin from Bulgaria to Western Europe.

[Copyright Expatica News 2004]

Subject: Dutch news