Bulgarian doctor jailed for corruption

SOFIA, Bulgaria, May 30 (UPI) -- A court in northern Bulgaria Saturday sentenced a physician and two associates to prison for authorizing state disability pensions for healthy people.

Dr. Boryana Hinova, former head of a medical commission in the northern town of Lovech, was given a 3 1/2-year term for providing false health condition documents for payments to people who had no disabilities.

Lyubka Raikova, a typist, and Denka Mircheva, a clerk, were sentenced to three years each for their involvement in the corruption scheme.

Two other doctors who worked in the Lovech medical commission were given suspended sentences.

Hinova and her team were convicted of corruption and issuing fake health documents following a 12-month trial.

The defendants can appeal their sentences within two weeks, the Bulgarian news agency SNA reported.