SOFIA, Bulgaria, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- A Bulgarian appeals court found two security guards guilty Wednesday for their role in a stampede at a Sofia disco that killed seven children and teens.
The victims were among hundreds of young people trying to get into a Christmas party at the Club Indigo on Dec. 21, 2001. The six girls and one boy ranged in age from 11 to 15.
The two guards, Henry Silagy and Georgi Vassilev, were acquitted by a lower court. But the appellate court in Sofia found them guilty of negligence and inactivity during the stampede and ordered them to pay fines of 800 leva ($608) each, the Sofia News Agency reported.
The appellate court cut the fine on the club's owner, Anguel Nikolov, to 1,000 leva ($760) from three times that amount. Nikolov and the guards must also pay 50,000 leva ($38,300) in compensation to the mother of one of the girls.
The conviction and sentence of Tsvyatko Barchovski -- former head of the youth and sports committee, who was convicted of illegally renting the club and an adjacent stadium -- were confirmed. He was fined and sentenced to three months probation.
