BTA :: Released Senior Interior Ministry Officials Not Directly Involved in Petrohan Case Investigation

Released Senior Interior Ministry Officials Not Directly Involved in Petrohan Case Investigation - Minister

Lyubomir Gigov, Teodora Tsaneva

Caretaker Interior Minister Emil Dechev speaking during a hearing in Parliament, Sofia, March 6, 2026 (BTA Photo/Vladimir Shokov)

Sofia,

06.03.2026 15:50

(BTA)

The four senior Interior Ministry officials who have been released are not directly involved in the investigation of the "Petrohan case", caretaker Interior Minister Emil Dechev told the National Assembly on Friday.

He spoke during a hearing, moved by the There Is Such a People Parliamentary Group, which claimed that the four officials in question "headed the investigation into the Petrohan case." The release of two directors of the Ministry's regional directorates: Senior Commissioner Plamen Tomov of Montana (Northwestern Bulgaria) and in Sofia Region, Senior Commissioner Tihomir Tsenov of Sofia Region, and of two heads of directorates general at the Ministry: Chief Commissioner Boyan Radev of Combating Organized Crime and Chief Commissioner Zahari Vaskov of the National Police, ordered by Dechev, was made public on March 4.

The "Petrohan case" refers 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. 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 the principal leads they followed, based on ballistics findings, the causes of death have been identified as suicide at the lodge and homicide and suicide in the camper.

"The persons in question have not taken part in the investigation directly but, in their capacity as administrative heads, have performed administrative and organizational functions," the caretaker Interior Minister said. "All personnel directly involved in work on the question, i.e. investigating police officers and operatives, continue to implement the instructions of the supervising prosecutor and to carry out the requisite investigative procedural and operational steps for the establishment of the objective truth," he explained.

Tomov, Tsenov, Raev and Vaskov have not been dismissed or suspended but have been temporarily transferred to a unit assisting the Interior Minister, Dechev said further.

/DD/