Exactly a week ago, on the night of Sunday to Monday - the house and car of the Mayor of Bistritsa Samuil Popov were set on fire. His family was inside, including their 4-year-old child.
In front of bTV, the mayor and his wife Vesselina Popova told how they survived the attack and what their doubts are about the motives.
Popov said that his wife reminded him of a message that could be interpreted as a warning.
„I received a message on Viber from a person I know. I may have affected some business interests, but I can't say what they are," he explained, specifying that he would provide it to the investigators.
The mayor remembers the night of the arson with horror, especially because his wife, child, and nephew were in the house, which was filled with suffocating smoke.
Samuil Popov says he was awake when he heard a loud sound at around 1:30 a.m.
“I heard something like an explosion. I went to look. I saw that the car was on fire. The car was inside the yard. It was on fire. I called 112“, said the mayor.
Then the family began to feel suffocating smoke in the premises.
„By the time the conversation ended, we began to feel smoke inside the premises“, he added.
His wife Vesselina Popova says that her first thought was the child.
„I was very scared… I fell into shock and horror. The first thing I had to do was save the child“, she said.
The smoke had already reached their floor and going up the stairs was impossible.
„We had to react very quickly, it was impossible to go up the stairs. We immediately evacuated to the terrace,“ she said.
The mayor's nephew was on the first floor with friends and managed to leave through a side door.
At the moment, the mayor has no security guards assigned to the pre-trial proceedings, but he says there is a strong police presence at the entrance and exit of the village - with patrols and gendarmerie who carry out checks.
His wife, however, is categorical: “I categorically fear for the lives of both my husband and the child. Categorically.“
The family also recalled the previous incident – In the summer, masked men with clubs broke into the city hall building to look for him, but Popov was not there at the time.
“Then it was for intimidation, and now it is a serious criminal case“, he said.
Popov admits that it is possible that it is the same people, but stressed that he does not want to win anyone over.
The mayor connects the attack with his work and the issue of the unregulated disposal of soil and waste.
“It is dumped on private agricultural properties and some that are managed by the municipality“, he explained.
According to him, the soil should be dumped at regulated landfills, but when it is unloaded “in a ravine“, money is saved.
“If it is 160 leva per course to get out when the transport company dumps it in a ravine - there is no such fee. That is, it saves money“, said Popov.
He also emphasized a risk that, in his opinion, is greater than the pollution itself: “The biggest problem is that a landslide could form… This worries me.“
The mayor claims that over the years, acts have been drawn up by the Sofia Inspectorate for violations of transport companies, but they have not reached the violators.
„They draw up an act, but this act cannot be served on the violator, when the city hall cannot serve them, they are served through the Ministry of Internal Affairs bodies,“ Popov said.
According to him, there are acts for „the same legal entity“ that have not been served and therefore do not result in sanctions.
Popov also says that he has brought new acts to the reception room of the Council of Ministers, with the aim of handing them over to the then Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov.