site.btaNine Criminal Proceedings Opened on Varna Illegal Construction Case, Interior Minister Says

Nine criminal proceedings have been launched following the Interior Ministry's operation in Varna and the Baba Alino illegal construction case, Bulgarian Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said during a hearing before the National Assembly Committee on Internal Security and Public Order on Thursday. He attended the hearing together with his team and the Interior Ministry's acting Secretary General Lyubomir Nikolov. 

The Minister said each of the proceedings had a different subject matter. He recalled that 25 individuals had been detained for up to 24 hours during the Varna crackdown, more than 140,000 pages of documentary evidence had been recovered, and numerous witnesses had been questioned.

Demerdzhiev said the Interior Ministry would check tolerance certificates in other parts of the country.

Tolerance certificates make private and public buildings constructed before 2001 without the requisite papers to be tolerated for the purposes of occupation or real estate transactions.

The Baba Alino case came to public attention following investigations by the anti-corruption platform BIRD and reports from local activists, who raised concerns about extensive construction activity on woodland near the Golden Sands resort. The controversy centres on 104 residential buildings constructed on approximately 10 hectares in the Baba Alino locality, allegedly without valid building permits and with the apparent failure - or possible complicity - of several institutions responsible for oversight. The contractor used tolerance certificates that appear to misstate the fact that the buildings concerned did not predate 2001.

Asked about the Petrohan case, Demerdzhiev said the authorities had met with the victims' relatives and were working to establish and disclose as many facts as possible. He noted that the investigation was being led by the prosecution service.

The Petrohan case is 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. 

On road safety, the Interior Minister said resources from the specialized Road Safety Fund would be channelled into prevention. He noted that the Fund had received very few detailed proposals from road infrastructure authorities and recalled that a comprehensive road safety strategy, covering prevention through to the actions of traffic police officers, was being prepared. He added that specific measures were already being implemented at high-risk road sections.

During the committee meeting, MPs approved rules on the election of a Chair of the State Agency for National Security. The decision was adopted despite objections from some lawmakers, who argued that the Committee was not responsible for the security services. Some MPs stayed out of the vote. Under the rules as approved, the candidate will be heard by the Committee, which will prepare a report for a debate in the full house.