Bulgaria has a high detection rate of murders. And this is so if we look at the official statistics, because they are still official and are criteria for the work of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 2024, 56 premeditated murders were reported, with only one remaining with an unknown perpetrator. In 2025, the completed premeditated murders were 72, of which 61 were detected. The percentages look good - but does this tell the whole story?
Because there are murders and murders. (how does it sound)
There are crimes in which the perpetrator is identified relatively quickly, and there are others – showy, professionally prepared, often with a suspected guarantor – where years pass, and the answer never comes.
As of today - September 30, 2026, a new name has been added to this series - Plovdiv businessman Iliyan Filipov. He was killed in a shooting in Plovdiv. The Ministry of Interior and the prosecutor's office confirmed the case and an investigation into premeditated murder has been launched. At the moment, there is no publicly identified perpetrator, and the versions are being checked. This is a crime from literally today and it would be incorrect to define it as “unsolved“ right now. But it inevitably raises the question of whether it will not become the next showy murder that the state will investigate for years.
Because there are already examples.
Alexei Petrov was shot in August 2023 on Vitosha. The former Beretta, businessman and former advisor to the National Security Agency (DANS) was shot dead, and the investigation never led to a publicly identified perpetrator and guarantor. Three years later, the public still does not know who shot and, most importantly, who ordered the murder.
Krassimir Kamenov-Kuro was killed in Cape Town in May 2023 along with his wife. South African authorities are investigating the quadruple murder, but there are no publicly identified perpetrators or guarantors. The Bulgarian name in this case is particularly important because Kuro was one of the key figures of the criminal contingent of the transition and was linked to a number of organized crime investigations.
Two months after Kuro's murder, the murder of Alexei Petrov followed. The two crimes cannot automatically be linked - and there is no public evidence that they were part of one operation. But the fact that two such prominent figures were killed within a few months, without the public receiving a clear answer as to who was behind these crimes, is serious enough in itself.
Then came Martin Bozanov-Notary.
On January 31, 2024, Bozanov was shot dead in Sofia. According to the Ministry of Interior, this was the only one of the 56 premeditated murders in 2024 in which the perpetrator remained unknown. But “Notary” is not just a crime story. Data and allegations of influence over magistrates, a special club and contacts in the judicial system have emerged around his name. Thus, the murder became part of a much larger question:
Are there networks in Bulgaria that can act professionally enough to kill public figures without being discovered?
And here the official statistics begin to... seem insufficient or rather silent.
Because a 96% detection rate of murders is an impressive figure, but for which crimes? If among the unsolved cases are precisely those that society perceives as potentially related to organized crime, business interests and are perhaps “contract killings“, the question is no longer just how many murders have been solved. The question is which murders cannot be solved and why.
In this context, the “Petrohan“ case deserves attention, although it cannot be placed in the same category. There, the investigation and the expert reports pointed to suicide in one group and murder followed by suicide in the other. The controversy surrounding the case, however, shows how difficult it is for institutions to communicate complex investigations when there are many questions and low public trust surrounding them.
And now we have a new showy murder - of Iliyan Filipov.
It remains to be seen whether it will be solved. The police may reach the perpetrator in days, weeks or months. Therefore, there is no reason to put him in advance next to Petrov, Karo and the Notary as “unsolved“.
But there is reason to ask the question: will this be another murder for which, years later, we will know the victim, the weapon and the place, but we will not know who ordered the death?
This is the big problem with landmark murders in Bulgaria. It is not enough to find the person who pulled the trigger. In contract crimes, the real answer lies further up the chain – who ordered it, who brokered it, who paid it, and why.
Karo. Alexey Petrov. The Notary. And now Iliyan Filipov. This is already a list that can hardly be explained only with individual crime stories, and the feeling of justice will be… somehow with a rather bitter aftertaste.