site.btaInvestigation into February 2026 Multiple-Deaths Tragedy Still in Progress, Interior Minister Says

The investigation into a tragedy involving six violent deaths in two mountain areas in Bulgaria's Northwest is still in progress, caretaker Interior Minister Emil Dechev said here on Wednesday.

He spoke during a hearing at an extraordinary sitting of the National Assembly, prompted by "further dismissals or transfers of senior Interior Ministry officials and pressure in connection with what came to be known as "the Petrohan case".

The reference is to a high-profile criminal case in which five men and a 15-year-old boy met a violent death between February 1 and 8, 2026. Their bodies were found in two remote mountain locations in Northwestern Bulgaria: a lodge near the Petrohan Pass and a camper van near Okolchitsa Peak. Forensic experts established that all six died of gunshot wounds. Law enforcement officials said that, based on ballistics findings, the causes of death have been identified as suicide at the lodge and homicide and suicide in the camper. The deceased were associated with a non-governmental conservation group called National Protected Areas Control Agency (NPACA).

"Information about the progress of the investigation, the steps taken in this connection and other procedures can be provided to you by permission of the supervising prosecutor," Dechev told the MPs.

Regarding the replacement of Senior Commissioner Kremena Ilieva by Senior Commissioner Anatolii Angelov as director of the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (NIFS), the Interior Minister said that he made this decision based on Angelov's managerial experience since 2015 and his expert qualifications. "I determined that a more experienced manager should be appointed to head the NIFS, albeit temporarily," Dechev said, adding that before her appointment Ilieva did not have any managerial experience. 

Ilieva said at the hearing that a total of 52 forensic expert examinations concerning the Petrohan-Okolchitsa case had been ordered between February 6 and March 23, when she vacated the position. The predominant part of these expert examinations have been finalized, and the findings have been received by those who ordered them, she emphasized.

Ilieva denied that either she or the experts had come under any pressure during the year in which she was NIFS director.