A Bulgarian man convicted of killing a pharmacy student in an alcohol-fuelled attack outside a nightclub spent almost four years on the run before his arrest in Port Elizabeth.

Vili Krasimirov Georgiev was sentenced to 18 years in jail for the 2008 murder of Stoyan Baltov. The brutal attack‚ outside Amnesia nightclub‚ provoked an outcry in the country’s capital‚ Sophia‚ with students embarking on mass protests.

The Herald reported on Tuesday that Georgiev had absconded just before he and two co-accused were due to start serving their sentences in late 2014.

He was arrested by the Hawks at Amsterdamhoek on Friday and appeared in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court on Monday with his right arm in a sling. An extradition process is under way to have him sent back to Bulgaria.

Baltov’s skull was fractured after he was repeatedly kicked. He lived in the Studentski Grad (student town) which was infamous for revelry and fighting.

University students and their professors held a rally in December 2008 to protest against the murder and demand that authorities beef up security in the town‚ home to thousands of university students.

Georgiev will appear in court again on Thursday.