Seventeen years behind bars for murderer who shot man and dumped his body in a ditch in Istán

Operation Istán was launched by police on the Costa del Sol in October 2019, when the body of an Eastern European man was found riddled with bullets in a ditch next to a road linking Marbella to Istán. The High Court of Justice of Andalucía (TSJA) has now confirmed the sentence for the only suspect put on trial, and he will serve 17 years in prison.

According to the sentence, the defendant, originally from Bulgaria, planned the murder of the victim with at least one other man. They used two small firearms to shoot their victim, a fact that was considered proven by the jury, although the weapons were never located.

The events unfolded on 25 October 2019, when they met with their victim at kilometre 2 of Istán road. He got into the car with the murderer as well as the second individual who was in on the plan. They drove for a few minutes until they arrived at kilometre 3 and went to an isolated place next to an embankment on the side of the road

Then, according to the jury findings, they pulled off the road and stopped the car, at which point they murdered their victim.

The victim was riddled with bullets inside the car, with no means of escape or defence. The bullets hit his skull, thorax and abdomen. Afterwards, the killers pushed his body down a slope next to the ditch so that it was hidden among undergrowth, after which the two criminals fled the scene.

The body, which had seven bullet wounds, was found two days later by a man who was walking in the area. Upon finding the body, he immediately called Emergencies 112 Andalucía.

One of the perpetrators, the only one who appeared in front of the judge, will serve 17 years in prison after the TSJA ratified the sentence for murder. However, the Andalusian High Court has revoked part of the sentence for illegal possession of firearms - which is one year and eight months - after considering that it had not been properly accredited in the trial, which took place in March this year in Malaga's Provincial Court.

The defendant will also have to pay the widow of the deceased victim 130,000 euros as compensation, as well as 150,000 euros to his two children for moral damages, as well as personal and patrimonial damages caused.