The investigation into the acid attack on Kostadinka Kouneva, a Bulgarian who was a cleaning workers trade union activist in Greece, has been put to an end by the investigator responsible, Bulgarian news agency Focus quoted Greek daily Ta Nea as reporting on June 16 2009.

This means that Kouneva's attackers will go unpunished. According to Ta Nea, Greek investigators decided to suspend the investigation for lack of progress.

Ta Nea said that Kouneva's lawyers would lodge a formal complaint in court setting out what they said were errors in the investigation and would ask for the case to continue on the grounds that it was of great public interest.

Kouneva, secretary of the Greek union of cleaners and domestic servants, was attacked on December 23 2008 by two assailants who splashed sulphuric acid in her face. The attack was allegedly a response to her union activities.

On December 25 2008, she was brought out of a medically induced coma in which she had been kept for several days at the intensive care unit of Athens' Evangelismos Hospital. Ever since, she has been in critical condition, losing one of her eyes.

The attack on her led to several protest rallies in her support on the streets of Athens and Sofia, attracting several thousand people. Apart from their support for Kouneva, protesters demanded that police find the perpetrators of the attack on Kouneva, which so far police have failed to do.

On February 24 2009, police arrested a man suspected of involvement in the acid attack.

The suspect was an ethnic Albanian and, according to Greek media, he had threatened Kouneva in the days before the attack. He allegedly took part in the attack on Kouneva by barring her way while his accomplice threw acid in her face. He was set free the next day for lack of evidence.

"If they wanted to find the perpetrators, they wouldn't have wasted five times doing nothing," Kouneva told Greek daily Kathimerini on June 14 2009, Focus said. She is still in hospital.