Slavi Binev killing: police rule out contract murder – minute of silence at tournament
The three detained men had reportedly known the victim for years. Politicians demand answers, and a taekwondo tournament in Sofia opened with a minute of silence.
Archive image · Photo: Ppktechno / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped and resized)
Investigators are still treating the fatal shooting of former MEP Slavi Binev in Sofia as a dispute among acquaintances. Sofia police chief Nikolay Peltekov said, according to Mediapool, that he did not consider it a contract killing: the three suspects had known Binev for a long time and did not hide their faces or their car when entering or leaving the house. Police cite unsettled financial dealings as the likely motive but say it is "very early" to draw conclusions. The two seized pistols are being examined. No charges had been announced by the afternoon, and the suspects are presumed innocent.
Former Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov asked on social media what a "major businessman" must have done to be killed in this way. ABV leader Rumen Petkov wrote: "They killed Slavi Binev. We are heading towards a creeping destabilisation of the state." He demanded answers from the Interior Ministry and the DANS security agency, while praising the swift arrests.
At the Levski Sofia hall, the international Ramus Sofia Cup taekwondo tournament, with more than 650 competitors from ten countries, opened at midday with a minute of silence for Binev, who was president of the Bulgarian Taekwondo Federation. Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev is the tournament's patron. TERRA WORLD NEWS will continue to follow the story.