Former Bulgarian MEP and taekwondo chief Slavi Binev was shot dead at his Sofia home Saturday as police detained three armed suspects amid a heated presidential race.
Police in Sofia found Slavi Binev dead at his home after a call about gunfire around 10:30 a.m. Saturday. The 60-year-old headed the Bulgarian Taekwondo Federation and served as vice president of the European Taekwondo Union.
Breitbart reported that officers later detained three armed suspects on a highway outside the capital, as an investigation got underway and the country closed a heated campaign ahead of Sunday’s presidential elections.
Top police officer Lyubomir Nikolov told reporters two of the suspects held Turkish citizenship. The third carried a Bulgarian ID card. Nikolov said they were armed and did not elaborate on possible motives.
Binev built his name first as a taekwondo fighter, then moved into politics. He served in Bulgaria’s National Assembly and in the European Parliament after winning election on the ticket of nationalist parties.
In sports, he rose to lead the Bulgarian Taekwondo Federation and hold the vice presidency of the European Taekwondo Union. Those roles, and his past in elected office, made him a recognizable public figure in Sofia.
His death landed at the end of a hard-fought presidential campaign. Police have not tied the shooting to the vote. They have not stated a motive at all.
After the gunfire call, police moved fast enough to stop three people on a highway beyond Sofia. Nikolov’s account to reporters is spare: two Turkish citizens, one Bulgarian ID holder, all armed, no public theory of why Binev was killed.
No suspect names have been released. No weapon count, shot count, or medical finding beyond the fact he was shot dead has been detailed in the available police statements. Charges have not been described.
That leaves a simple official record so far. A known former lawmaker and sports official is dead at home. Three armed men are in custody. Motive is unstated.
Local media have long reported that in the early 1990s Binev’s activities were linked to a group that ran several entertainment venues in Sofia and was allegedly involved in prostitution, drugs, and trafficking of stolen cars. Those accounts are allegations from that period, not fresh court findings tied to Saturday’s shooting.
Bulgaria in the 1990s saw mafia-style killings of public figures as a common occurrence. The country has spent years trying to put that era behind it. A high-profile shooting at a Sofia home, followed by a highway stop of armed suspects, revives the question of whether old methods still reach people who once moved between sport, nightlife, and nationalist politics.
Police have not said Saturday’s killing belongs to any larger pattern. They have not named a gang, a contract, or a political dispute. They have said only what they can document: gunfire, a body at home, three armed detainees, and an open investigation.
The timing is awkward for a democracy that wants calm ballots. Binev’s death coincided with the close of a heated campaign for Sunday’s presidential elections. Voters heading to the polls do so with a former European Parliament member and national sports official freshly killed in the capital.
None of that proves an election link. Nikolov did not offer one. Responsible reporting stops where the police stop: no motive on the record, no named gunmen, no claimed faction.
What stands is narrower and harder. A man who fought in taekwondo, sat in the National Assembly, served in the European Parliament on a nationalist ticket, and ran major martial-arts bodies was shot dead in Sofia. Two of the three people grabbed afterward were Turkish citizens. All three were armed. Officials will not say why.
European capitals have spent years talking about secure borders, foreign criminal networks, and whether weak enforcement invites violence onto city streets. Sofia now has a concrete case file that tests those concerns in public view, without the comfort of a finished motive story.
Law-and-order politics is not a slogan when a former lawmaker is killed at home and armed suspects are chased down outside town. It is a demand that police finish the job, name the reason, and show that public figures, and ordinary residents, are not open targets.
Until investigators explain who ordered the gunfire and why, Bulgaria is left with a body, three detainees, and a presidential vote under a shadow it did not need.
