The murder of Ani Borisova (Bulgarian: Ани Борисова, romanized: Ani Borisova; also rendered Anny Borisova) was the killing of a four-year-old Bulgarian girl in a basement flat in central Athens, Greece, during the night of 8–9 April 2015. The case began as a missing-person investigation after Ani's mother reported her missing on 24 April. The Hellenic Police concluded that the account initially given for the disappearance was fabricated and that Ani had died in the flat while in the care of her father, Stanislav Bakardjiev. Bakardjiev admitted dismembering and disposing of Ani's remains, but consistently denied causing her death. Her remains were never recovered. In October 2016, the Athens Mixed Jury Court convicted Bakardjiev and his friend Nazif Ahmedov of intentional homicide and imposed life sentences. Ani's mother, Dimitrina Borisova, was convicted by a 4–3 majority of fatally endangering a child and sentenced to six years' imprisonment. On 17 April 2019, the Athens Mixed Jury Court of Appeal upheld Bakardjiev's conviction and life sentence. It found Ahmedov guilty of aiding and abetting the homicide rather than committing it as a joint principal, reducing his sentence to nine years, and acquitted Borisova by a 6–1 majority. The absence of a body or autopsy made the precise cause of death impossible to establish and became a central evidentiary issue at both trials.
Background Ani was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, to Dimitrina Borisova and Stanislav Bakardjiev. Her parents had met in Athens in 2008. She spent most of her early childhood in Bulgaria with her maternal grandparents, while Bakardjiev remained in Athens; he had not formally acknowledged paternity. In early 2015, Borisova brought Ani to Greece, and the family lived in a small basement flat on Michail Voda Street near Agios Panteleimonas in central Athens. Bakardjiev, who was born in Gabrovo, Bulgaria, in 1988 and had moved to Athens as a child, had a dependence on drugs at the time. A subsequent investigation by Kathimerini reported that at least five residents of the building had heard arguments, shouting or a child crying from the flat, or were aware of Bakardjiev's drug dependence. One resident described an argument between the parents on 9 March 2015 and said that police arrived about an hour later, although the Hellenic Police did not confirm that account.
Disappearance report Borisova travelled to Germany in the period before Ani's death, leaving the child in Bakardjiev's care. She returned to Greece on 21 April and reported Ani missing at the Omonia police station on 24 April. In her first account, Borisova said that she had left Ani with a Bulgarian acquaintance called “Sylvia”, who had subsequently lost sight of the child at a playground. Investigators could not establish that the woman existed. Borisova later said that Ani had remained with her father. Bakardjiev also gave differing accounts, including claims that the child had left the flat while he was asleep. Police considered the inconsistencies, together with the evidence subsequently found in the flat, incompatible with a disappearance from a public place. The authorities initially treated Ani as a missing child and circulated her photograph. On 4 May, after the investigation had shifted to the flat and the parents' accounts, police announced that the case was being treated as a homicide and sought arrest warrants for Bakardjiev and Borisova.
Police investigation Forensic examinations found blood matching Ani's genetic profile on bedding, household objects and surfaces in several parts of the flat. Investigators used a chemical reagent to reveal traces that were no longer visible after the premises had been cleaned. Blood linked to Bakardjiev was also found on a knife and a sheet. According to police statements reported by the Associated Press, Bakardjiev had bought cleaning supplies and new furniture, sold Ani's cot and pushchair, and made arrangements to replace pipes in the flat. Bakardjiev said that he found Ani dead on the morning of 9 April and, fearing that he would be blamed, dismembered her body and disposed of the remains. He denied killing her and at different stages suggested that she might have died from illness or accidental exposure to drugs. Police said that the remains had been placed in refuse and discarded in bins around Athens over several days. Searches did not recover them; the regional police chief said that the method of disposal made subsequent identification and recovery effectively impossible. Investigators also examined the role of Nazif Ahmedov, known as “Nikolai”, a friend of Bakardjiev who was alleged to have been present in the flat during the relevant period. The extent of Ahmedov's involvement later became one of the principal differences between the first-instance and appellate judgments.
Criminal proceedings
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