Bulgarian businessman and politician Slavi Binev was shot dead at his home in Sofia’s Pavlovo district, with police launching an investigation and a specialized operation to find those responsible, BGNES, BNR and NOVA reported.
The Ministry of Interior received a report of the killing shortly before 10:30 a.m., while emergency medical services received a call at 10:28 a.m. An ambulance reached the scene within seven minutes, but its crew could only confirm Binev’s death.
According to information reported by NOVA, a worker at Binev’s home raised the alarm after several people arrived at the property and shots were heard. When he went to investigate, he found the businessman dead. Unconfirmed reports said Binev had been shot in the head and body.
Sources cited by BGNES, BNR and bTV said the killing followed an argument or personal dispute involving Binev and other people at his residence. According to BNR, the Ministry of Interior was searching for an SUV believed to have been used by the perpetrators to escape. Suspects were reportedly detained, although the circumstances of the killing and the identity of those responsible had not been officially confirmed.
Forensic experts were examining the scene, and pretrial proceedings had been opened. The area around the property was heavily guarded by police.
Slavcho Penchev Binev, known as Slavi Binev, was born in Sofia on December 10, 1965. He was a taekwondo athlete, businessman and politician who held senior positions in sports organizations, including president of the Bulgarian Taekwondo Federation and first vice president of the European Taekwondo Union.
Binev won the title of absolute European taekwondo champion at the 1992 championships in Celje, Slovenia. After ending his competitive career, he worked as an international referee, coach and sports administrator, becoming chairman of the Bulgarian Olympic Taekwondo Federation and holding leadership positions in European taekwondo.
During the 1990s and early 2000s, he built business interests in security, construction and entertainment, managing popular Sofia nightlife venues. His name was associated with R-System Holding and clubs including BIAD. Media reports over the years linked him to the organized crime groups known as “muscle” groups that emerged during Bulgaria’s post-communist transition.
Binev entered politics with the Ataka party and was elected to the European Parliament in 2007. He served on its Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and participated in the delegation to the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly and the Intergroup on Sport. He also ran for mayor of Sofia that year and won a second term as a member of the European Parliament in 2009.
He left Ataka in 2011 and founded the Conservative Party – Movement for Success a year later. The party became part of the Civic Union for Real Democracy (GORD) alliance. Binev subsequently left GORD and joined the National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria in 2014.
In October 2014, he was elected to Bulgaria’s 43rd National Assembly. That December, he became chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Culture and Media, but the appointment prompted protests from the cultural sector. He resigned on December 8, 2014, and later headed the Committee on Children, Youth and Sports. In the 2017 parliamentary election, he ran as a candidate on the DPS party list.