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A certain Gope of Elin Pelin ordered the assassination of Prime Minister Andrei Lukanov. The former head of the Interior Ministry’s Homicide Department, Botyo Botev, who has been working on the assassination of the former prime minister of Bulgaria since the 20th minute after the bullets were fired, raised the curtain on the sinister attack that shook Bulgaria 24 years ago. years.
On October 2, Lukanov died while leaving his home, and more than two decades later, many questions remained about his death.
“What came out as direct information – that the conflict is between the BSP Orion group and the person Rumen Spasov, was obvious from the beginning.
It was a public secret that Rumen Spasov believed that Lukanov was to blame for the death of his father, who was in prison. So even though the two grew up together they communicated, this hatred has existed with them since their childhood.
This information came from the beginning. Based on that, the day after the murder, Rumen Spasov was assigned for questioning, “Botev said.
In the interrogation report, Spasov stated: “I cannot hide the fact that I am not satisfied with Lukanov’s death. Given our relationship, I can say that I am happy. But I can say that this murder was not organized by me.”
Botev said there was withholding of information after the murder.
“One of the most important things in the case was the formation of the motive for the murder, the motive of which was contained in the 17-page testimony of the then director of the National Security Service Yuri Georgiev.
Yuri Georgiev and Rumen Spasov were friends. Yuri Georgiev requested a meeting on August 31, 1996.
This was perhaps the last link in which Lukanov’s fate was decided.
At Yuri Georgiev’s house, Rumen Spasov wanted an all-night meeting to reconcile in the interests of the party, in the interests of the state, but now this hinders the government of Jean Videnov and asks him to organize a meeting with Lukanov.
The meeting takes place at (Petar) Mandjukov’s village in Boyana. And it will be done in the next few days, “Botev said.
However, in response to the proposal, Lukanov told Georgiev: “Go tell these marauders that I will not come home,” and left.
Lukanov shared about the meeting of several people, including Rumen Petkov, who told Interior Minister Nikolay Dobrev.
If this information had reached investigators in time, it would have saved them a lot of work and time, because the main motive for the murder would have been outlined, said Botev, who said that Rumen Petkov had confirmed the information during questioning.
The casings of the pistol with which Lukanov was killed show that the weapon was used in the murder of a Ukrainian citizen with “criminal tendencies”: Sergei Shanin, assassinated on April 6 of the same year.
According to the investigation, Shanin’s murder is linked to controversy in a powerful Ukrainian criminal group.
The son of the head of this criminal group, Kostya Grek, was hiding in Bulgaria. It was later established that Shanin had kidnapped Vanya Grek for ransom. 20 days after the kidnapping, Grek was released.
“I was never convinced that the weapon with which Shanin was killed killed Lukanov. This is not serious for such a murder, “said Botev, who said that” this weapon could have been sold or given to someone. “
In the course of the general work of the investigation, 4 more murders came out. With the help of a joint specialized operation with Turkey, members of the Rivne group involved in Shanin’s assassination have been captured.
“The first advance came from there, that they left the gun at the Gaidarets hotel (in Elin Pelin). And they gave it to Kichatov,” Botev said.
“Kichatov spoke for the first time about the murder of Lukanov, in which he was not directly involved. He said who ordered the murder: a certain Gope from Elin Pelin.
This Gope turned out to be a relative of Angel Vassilev. And he told everything related to the murder of Lukanov, “recalled the former director of the Homicide Department of the Interior Ministry.
“I think I’ve been telling the truth from the beginning to the end. Not out of conviction, conviction is one thing, and when things come from the evidence gathered, when everything has passed through your hands and suffered, we are not talking here. of conviction, “added Botev.
“From the beginning, there was a conflict, which took place just before the assassination, in September at a meeting in Moscow, when issues related to the organization of Top Energy’s work were being resolved.
Lukanov, who was a member of Top Energy’s board of directors at the time, was present. “Then he was kicked out of Top Energy, as Iliya Pavlov was put in his place,” Botev said.
“There is a conflict between Lukanov and Pavlov, which was obvious to everyone present there. There was a discussion between them in a slightly higher tone, in which Lukanov expressed his discontent that a person was sitting in that position who did not have idea of the problems he had to face, “added the former director of the Homicide Department of the Interior Ministry.
If Pavlov slapped Lukanov, according to Botev, such information existed, but he could not confirm it because he was not a direct witness. Iliya Pavlov claimed that this case had nothing to do with the murder and we were no longer interested, Botev said.
“Lukanov’s assassination is economic and political. If Lukanov had survived, there would have been legal consequences for the Orion circle, because he had made many compromising statements against them, Botev believes.
There are three reasons for the second- and third-instance acquittals of Lukanov’s killers. One of them is that during the interrogations their testimonies were extracted with torture, that is, I did it.
But I also said in court, but if so, why don’t they prosecute me as a military man who committed a crime? Botev asked. “They fought so that the lawyers would not allow me to be interrogated,” said the second reason for the acquittals, the former director of the Homicide Department of the Interior Ministry.
The third reason is ridiculous: the testimony of the witnesses contradicted the height of the perpetrator, the investigator concluded.
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