The investigation into the murder of Plovdiv businessman and president of PFC "Botev" Plovdiv Iliyan Filipov continues, and along with the information about a detained suspect, a number of questions remain about the motive, the manner of committing the crime and the relations between the people whose names appear around the case.
According to Tihomir Bezlov, a security expert at the Center for the Study of Democracy, at this stage it is necessary to approach the different versions carefully. A significant part of the information still comes from media publications, and not from official announcements of the investigating institutions.
„Rather, we can talk about some kind of conflict between them, probably around the company, for which it became clear that they were partners. But this is a very rough assumption, because, first of all, there is no official announcement about the detention. These are primarily media comments and photos. We do not have such details as what the motive is, what the weapon is, whether the weapon was found. There are separate fragments in the media - for example, that he turned off his phone. There are doubts whether the silhouette we see on the cameras corresponds to the person who is allegedly detained. That is, there are many ambiguities“, commented Bezlov.
According to him, even with the first information about the murder, numerous versions appeared, including those related to political contacts, business interests and international ties. However, if the version of a personal or business conflict is confirmed with evidence, this would change the initial reading of the crime.
„At first glance, the idea was that this was a typical contract killing of a person with great financial and economic opportunities, with very large political contacts. If you look at the versions from yesterday, there was everything – starting from political interpretations of contacts and connections, going through his business contacts and even reaching the topic of a Russian connection through the club “Botev“. That is, there was everything. If this version holds up, because there are many things that need to be proven, then the case looks more like an unprofessional murder. Because in the murders of such influential people that we have observed over the years, the perpetrators are usually not discovered“, said Bezlov.
Therefore, according to the expert, it is too early to automatically place the murder in the context of major political or economic dislocations.
“There is a moment that seems to have emerged since last night - that we already have a more specific version. Whether this is so, remains to be seen. As you can see, there is skepticism, there are contradictions. Therefore, it seems to me that at the moment it is good to put aside all the assumptions and interpretations that are leading to complex explanations. We have to wait“, he emphasized.
One of the issues surrounding the case is related to Filipov's personal security. According to publicly known information, the businessman moved freely and without permanent security. At the same time, in previous periods he has publicly spoken about conflicts and fears for his life.
It is this contradiction that impresses Bezlov.
„One of the things that impressed me is that, unlike typical influential businessmen, owners of such large assets, he actually moved without security. If you look at an equivalent businessman, we usually talk about armored cars, numerous security guards. You don't have that here. When you talk to journalists and politicians from Plovdiv, they say: he had no security. "I initially thought there was at least a small security guard - a driver, a second person. It turns out there was no security guard, which is really impressive," the expert said.