site.btaEx-Environment Minister Calls for Making Public NGO Tipoffs to Authorities to Identify Possible Motives for Petrohan Murders

Borislav Sandov, Minister of Environment and Water in Kiril Petkov’s cabinet, said it would be “extremely useful” for all tipoffs submitted to the authorities over the years by the National Protected Areas Control Agency (NPACA) to be made public, in order to identify any possible motives for retaliation against the organization. Three men believed to be linked to NPACA, which is actually an NGO despite suggested otherwise by the name, were found dead with gunshot wounds near a burnt mountain lodge. "Such tipoffs likely exist, especially in the areas of environmental protection and forest management," said Sandov in a social media post.

The burnt Petrohan Lodge is believed to have served as a base for the victims' NGO.

Sandov expressed hope that law enforcement authorities would swiftly clarify all facts and circumstances surrounding the deaths of the three men and the arson attack, without allowing speculation to deepen public suspicion.

When they announced discovering on February 2 the three men with gunshot wounds, police said they were searching for more individuals connected to the NGO. NPACA’s activities are under investigation. In 2022, the organization had signed a framework agreement with the Ministry of Environment and Water for nature conservation in the area - at a time when Sandov himself headed the ministry.

On February 3, the ministry announced that it had terminated the agreement in 2025.

In a detailed post, Sandov outlined his interactions with NPACA and provided a chronological account of the framework agreement he signed on behalf of the ministry with the organization, whose members were later killed.

According to Sandov, the ministry first received a request for a meeting with a NPACA representative in early 2022. The organization introduced itself as a conservation NGO operating in the Petrohan area and said it was a member of the EUROPARC Federation.

“In January 2022, a meeting was held in my office at the Ministry of Environment and Water,” Sandov said. Ivaylo Ivanov, one of the men found dead on February 2, attended as NPACA’s official representative and presented the organization’s activities at both national and international levels. A second meeting followed, during which NPACA proposed a framework partnership agreement focused on environmental protection and the promotion of good practices for nature protection and environmental educational.

The agreement was signed in early February 2022. Sandov emphasized that it created no rights or obligations for either party and had no financial component. “It was essentially a declaration of shared intentions with an idealistic goal,” he said.

On April 4, 2022, the ministry received a letter from another association seeking clarification on whether the agreement granted NPACA any special rights. Two days later, Sandov responded in writing, explicitly stating that it did not.

Later that summer, Sandov was summoned by law enforcement authorities to provide explanations regarding the agreement. After his term ended, the ministry conducted an internal review and attempted to terminate the agreement by mutual consent.

In the autumn of 2022, the ministry referred the case to the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor’s Office and the Ministry of Interior.

Sandov also ordered an inspection by the Sofia Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water. That inspection, completed on December 2, 2022, found no violations.

A subsequent inspection, ordered by caretaker Environment Minister Rositsa Karamfilova and carried out on January 17, 2023, also found no violations by NPACA. In the summer of 2024, another caretaker minister, Petar Dimitrov, ordered an additional check. An inspection conducted by the Blagoevgrad environmental inspectorate on July 1, 2024, again found no violations.

On June 26, 2025, the Ministry of Environment and Water notified NPACA that it was unilaterally terminating the framework partnership agreement. The notice was signed by then minister Manol Genov. The ministry stated on February 3 that it had received no reports of violations of environmental legislation by NPACA.

“I did not know the people from NPACA before 2022. They were not my friends, colleagues, or party members before or after that time,” Sandov said. He added that he had not been pressured and that no one had lobbied him regarding the agreement.

“I was guided solely by the idea of encouraging civic participation in environmental protection and seeking good practices for ministry staff working in the Rila, Pirin, and Central Balkan national parks,” he said.

To assess whether the agreement had any practical impact, Sandov suggested comparing the environmental condition of the Petrohan area before and after 2021. “I can say with certainty that it has not deteriorated,” he said, adding that poaching, illegal logging, and fire-affected areas had decreased during the period in question. “The state did not suffer any financial harm as a result of this agreement,” he concluded.