site.btaCC-DB Pushes for Security Agency to Disclose Details on NGO amid Suspected Homicide Probe

Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) is submitting to the National Assembly a draft resolution obliging the State Agency for National Security (SANS) and the prosecution service to provide information related to the activities of the non-profit organization National Protected Areas Control Agency, the CC-DB press service reported on Monday. After three bodies with gunshot wounds were found near the Petrohan Pass in the Western Balkan Mountains, as reported by the Sofia Regional Directorate of the Interior Ministry on February 2, the head of the General Directorate National Police, Chief Commissioner Zahari Vaskov, reported that there are persons wanted in connection with a non-governmental organization (NGO).

Vaskov said that the NGO's activities are being investigated and added that in 2022, it signed an agreement with the Ministry of Environment and Water regarding nature conservation in the area of Petrohan.

On February 8, another three bodies with gunshot wounds were found in a camper van near Mount Okolchitsa, Northwestern Bulgaria. Vaskov confirmed that they are connected to the Petrohan case.

According to CC-DB's explanatory memorandum, publicly available information and institutional exchanges of information contain data indicating that reports and materials by competent authorities, including SANS, and that inspections and/or pre-trial proceedings have been initiated based on reports and materials received, some of which have been terminated. The draft decision provides for SANS and the prosecution service to be required to provide parliament with all reports, references, and other documents, including those containing classified information, prepared in connection with the activities of the NGO. Information will also be requested in connection with all completed investigations or terminated pre-trial proceedings initiated on the basis of reports, complaints, and other received documents.

The draft resolution also provides that SANS shall be obliged to take action to remove or lower the level of classification when the legal grounds for it no longer exist, informing the National Assembly in writing of the result.