A former Bulgarian secret agent who became a prominent businessman in the post-communist era was shot dead on August 16 in broad daylight in a suburb of Sofia.
Alexei Petrov, who escaped at least two previous assassination attempts, was on a walk when he was fatally shot, senior Interior Ministry official Petar Todorov told reporters.
Police said that Petrov, 61, died on the spot after being shot by an unknown assailant around 12:20 p.m. local time. A woman who was with him was injured and was taken to a hospital with a gunshot wound.
Police chief Lyubomir Nikolov said the shooting took place in a wooded area where Petrov often walked.
Petrov was a former secret agent and government adviser on the fight against organized crime who became emblematic of the security services' close ties to the criminal underworld during the post-communist era.
After working for the Interior Ministry through the early 1990s, he left police work to start a private security business and was a co-founder of two insurance companies. Through 1998 he participated in the company Budoinvest together with former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.
One of the previous attempts on his life occurred in 2002 when he was allegedly wounded in the chest and leg in a shooting in front of an office building. Years later, in 2015, he was targeted in an attack but emerged unscathed.
In 2010, he was arrested and charged with running a criminal group engaged in extortion, racketeering, drug trafficking, money laundering, and tax evasion. A year later he ran unsuccessfully for president, earning just 1 percent of the votes.
Petrov was acquitted in 2021 of the extortion charges and recently taught as a security expert at Bulgarian universities. He also served as an adviser to the head of the State Agency for National Security.
Bulgarian Businessman With Background As Secret Agent Shot Dead In Suburb Of Sofia
Aleksei Petrov (file photo)