A national protest has began in more than 40 cities across the country after a case of violence against an 18-year-old girl from Stara Zagora. A month ago she was attacked and abused in her home, as her 26-year-old friend Georgi Georgiev was accused of the crime.

In the hometown of the victim the event was announced as a march in her support and hundreds of people are currently protesting in front of the courthouse in Sofia. "No more victims" and "Violence is not a family value" read some of the raised posters. People are calling for the resignation of judge Tatiana Goneva, who freed the abuser on grounds of causing minor bodily harm, and also called  for legal amendments in order to treat an intimate partner on an equal footing with a spouse, so that a victim could receive protection under the Domestic Violence Act.

Protests against what happened and in order to show solidarity with the injured woman are organised this evening in Paris, Berlin and Copenhagen.

• Sadistic violence against a young girl exposes serious problems of Bulgarian justice