Slavi Binev Shot Dead at His Home in Sofia, Three Suspects Detained

Slavi Binev, 60, the head of the Bulgarian Taekwondo Federation and a vice president of the European Taekwondo Union, was shot dead at his home in Sofia on Saturday, police said. Officers found him dead at the address, and an investigation is under way.

The Associated Press reported that police received a call about gunfire at around 10:30 a.m. and found Binev dead when they arrived. Nove.news reported that a call about a man with a gunshot wound reached the 112 emergency line at 10:18, and police teams were sent at once. Both accounts place the first report on Saturday morning.

Three suspects detained outside Sofia

Three suspects were detained on a highway outside Sofia. Lyubomir Nikolov, a top police officer, told reporters that two of the men held Turkish citizenship, that the third held a Bulgarian identity card, and that the men were armed. Nikolov did not set out a possible motive in the Associated Press account.

Nove.news reported that the men were stopped near the Trayanovi Vrata tunnel at kilometre 54 of the Trakia motorway, after their car was detected leaving Sofia and police launched containment operations. The men knew Binev and had been his guests, according to that report. A witness heard a shot and then saw the three leave by car. Investigators still have to establish the role of each person detained, and detention does not establish guilt.

Police recovered two pistols, Nove.news reported. One had apparently been thrown away shortly before the car was stopped, and the other was found in a bag belonging to one of the occupants of the car. The connection of the weapons to the shooting must be established through the investigation.

Financial relations are the main line of inquiry

Unsettled financial relations are the principal line of inquiry, Nove.news reported. Preliminary information indicates that the detained men work in construction and are building two developments in Sofia. No formal business connection between their company and Binev has yet been established in the registers. The initial assessment of investigators is that the case does not bear the hallmarks of a contract killing. That assessment is not a final finding on motive.

A career in sport, business and politics

Slavcho Penchev Binev was born in Sofia on 10 December 1965. He won multiple Bulgarian national taekwondo titles and a European title at an open championship in Celje, Slovenia, in 1992. He later continued as a coach and sports administrator. He headed the Bulgarian Taekwondo Federation, served as first vice president of the European Taekwondo Union, and since 2025 he had also been a vice president of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee.

During the 1990s, Binev developed businesses through R-System Holding, with interests in services, entertainment, construction, investment and security. He switched to politics and was elected to the European Parliament in 2007 on the Ataka ticket. He won a second term in 2009 and remained a member until 2014. After leaving Ataka, he founded GORD and later joined the National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria. As a member of the 43rd National Assembly, he chaired the Culture and Media Committee. That appointment prompted protests from the cultural community, after which he stepped down as chair.

The killing coincided with the end of a heated campaign for the presidential elections that Bulgaria holds on Sunday, 25 October 2026, the Associated Press reported. A second report listed by EIN Presswire said that forensic teams were working at the scene. Police said the investigation is under way.