In connection with the criminal case in the Petrohan region, in the last two days all kinds of speculations have been circulating in the public space, including those involving my name. My phone does not stop ringing, even though yesterday I gave an interview to BNR - Bulgarian National Radio, and explained the details of the framework agreement that I signed on behalf of the Ministry of Environment and Water with the non-governmental organization, whose members are victims of the criminal case in question. Before I proceed to the chronology and point out the official documents in question, I would like to ask everyone to try to look at the issue with an open mind and to shake off all the suggestions and versions that are circulating in the media, because the level of disinformation, conspiracy and interpretation on the topic is extremely high, and on top of that, there is no one to present the version of the victims - victims or missing from the organization in question. This was written on his Facebook profile by the former Minister of Environment and Waters Borislav Sandov.
"The facts somehow remain in the background, while hypotheses that do not correspond to them come to the fore. And the facts officially announced by state institutions are about a purely criminal past of each of the three murdered, about the lack of any signal in the local police station against the actions of the organization and on the terrain of the facility managed by them, as well as about the lack of violations established by numerous inspections by a large number of state control bodies. On the other side are the hypotheses that most often come from the Women's Rights Commission (one woman said), but unfortunately also from the representatives of the investigators themselves at the moment", Sandov states.
"So, here is the chronology related to me and the NACPT: at the beginning of 2022, the Ministry of Environment and Water received a request for a meeting with a representative of the "NACPT" Association, which presented itself as an environmental organization, based in the Petrokhan region. It was mentioned that the organization in question is a member of The EUROPARC Federation; in January 2022, a meeting was held in my office at the Ministry of Environment and Water. Ivaylo Ivanov (one of the victims) attended it on behalf of the NACPT, as an official representative of the organization, to whom I was presented with the work of the NACPT at the national and international level; a second meeting followed, soon after the first, at which the idea of signing a framework agreement for partnership in the field of environmental protection and promotion of good and educational practices in the field of ecology was presented", the former Minister of Environment points out.
"On 08.02.2022, the Framework Agreement prepared by my team between the Ministry of Environment and Water and the National Agency for the Protection of Natural Resources and Environment was signed, which did not create rights and responsibilities for either party and did not have any financial element in it. In general, this was a recording of joint good intentions with a non-profit purpose; on 04.04.2022, the Ministry of Environment and Water received a letter from another association requesting clarification of this agreement and whether it delegates special rights to the National Agency for the Protection of Natural Resources and Environment; on 06.04.2022, I sent a response to the above letter and explicitly stated that the agreement in question does not grant rights or obligations to the National Agency for the Protection of Natural Resources and Environment; In the summer of 2022, I was summoned to provide explanations following a report to law enforcement agencies regarding this agreement. I clarified all the facts and circumstances surrounding it, as I am doing here now. In these 4 years, there would still have been some consequences if there was anything illegal or damaging to the state from these actions," adds Borislav Sandov.
"After the end of my term as Minister of Environment and Water, an internal inspection was carried out and an attempt was made to terminate the Agreement bilaterally; in the fall of 2022, the Ministry of Environment and Water referred the matter to the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Interior for a competency check; also in the fall of 2022, the Minister of Environment and Water initiated an inspection by the Regional Inspectorate for Environment and Water Sofia for an on-site inspection. The inspection on 02.12.2022 found no violations; another order by Minister Karamfilova followed and another inspection on 17.01.2023, which also did not establish any violations by the NACPT; in the summer of 2024, another acting Minister of Environment and Water - Petar Dimitrov - issued an order initiating an inspection by another regional inspection of the environment and water. On 01.07.2024, an inspection was carried out by the Regional Inspectorate for Environment and Water Blagoevgrad, which also did not find any violations; on 26.06.2025, the Ministry of Environment and Water notified the NACPT that it was unilaterally terminating the Framework Partnership Agreement. The signature was by Minister Manol Genov; in conclusion from yesterday, the Ministry of Environment and Water said that so far they have not received any signals of violations of environmental legislation from the NACPT, commented Sandov.
"And if this chronology was not enough, let me add a few more things to dispel speculation. I did not know the people from the NACPT before 2022. They were not my friends, colleagues or party members before or after 2022. I was not pressured, nor did anyone intercede for this agreement. I was guided entirely by the idea of promoting civic participation in the field of environmental protection, and also to seek good practices for the employees of the Ministry of Environment and Water in the Rila, Pirin and Central Balkan National Parks. Rangers work in these parks, for whom the record 30-35% salary increase during my short stay at the head of the Ministry of Environment and Water was not a sufficient motivating factor due to the low base on which I found them. Sharing experience from EUROPARCS would have been a good addition," he noted.
"To make it clear whether this Agreement made sense, an assessment of the environmental situation in the Petrohan region should be made and compared to the situation in 2021. I can certainly say that it has not worsened and, from my personal observations, poaching raids, illegal logging and the area of fires have decreased. The state has not been damaged by a single penny during the operation of this Agreement," states the former Minister of Environment and Water.
"As for the criminal aspect of the case, I hope that the law enforcement authorities will quickly and without raising additional doubts reveal all the facts and circumstances surrounding the death of these three men and the burned-down base of the organization. It would also be very useful if all the signals submitted by the NACP over the years were made public, in order to identify possible motives for revenge against them. Such signals certainly exist, especially in the field of environment and forest management," writes Borislav Sandov.