Three men detained on the Trakia motorway after the killing of businessman and former MEP Slavi Binev were brought to the Sofia city police directorate (SDVR) for questioning in the evening. No charges have been brought against them yet.

Binev died from a gunshot at his home in Sofia's Pavlovo district on the morning of Saturday, 24 October. Investigators turned to people he knew the same day.

The background: Slavi Binev murder at Pavlovo: main theory is unsettled money

The men arrived at the SDVR building at about 6.30pm and went in through a side entrance. None of them spoke to reporters. Before that, they spent several hours at the 54th kilometre of the motorway, near the Traianovi Vrata tunnel, where they were detained.

The call to the 112 emergency line came at 10.18am and named the Gardova Glava district. Investigators found the car the three men used to leave the capital after the shooting.

Acting interior ministry chief secretary Lyubomir Nikolov said the three men had a brief meeting at the address before the shot. "A witness we are interviewing at the scene says he heard a shot and then saw three men, most likely the same ones," Nikolov told a briefing. He said Binev was shot once in the head and one cartridge case was found at the scene.

The interior ministry says the three know Binev and often visited him, including the day before the killing. Two of the men have Turkish names, and the third has a Bulgarian ID card. Police said they have links to the construction business.

Officers found two pistols when they detained the men. According to first reports, one had been thrown out of the car and the other was in a bag. Tests will show whether either was used in the killing.

There is no final motive yet. Sources in the investigation say Binev was killed during a row with acquaintances over small sums of money. Investigators are working on the theory of unsettled financial dealings.

SDVR will lead the pre-trial investigation. Questioning and other steps are due to show what happened at the meeting and who fired. "The case files will most likely be reported to the prosecutor's office tomorrow, given the type of crime," said SDVR director chief commissioner Nikolay Peltekov. The Sofia City Prosecutor's Office will decide whether to charge the three men, and with what.

Binev was born in Sofia on 10 December 1965. He built a career in taekwondo and business, and in 1992 he won a European title at an open championship in Celje, Slovenia.

He entered politics in 2007, when he ran for mayor of Sofia and was elected an MEP on the Ataka party list. He served two consecutive terms in the European Parliament, until 2014. In 2012 he founded the political project GORD, and he later joined the National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria.

In 2014 he became an MP in the 43rd National Assembly and chaired the parliamentary committee on culture and media. He left the post after public criticism.

In 2017 he was elected president of the Bulgarian Taekwondo Federation, and he later took international posts in sports bodies, including the European Taekwondo Union. In May 2026 he was re-elected head of the federation for a five-year term.