Bulgaria taekwondo chief shot dead at home in Sofia

Slavi Binev, president of the Bulgarian Taekwondo Association, has been shot and killed at his home.

The Associated Press reported Sunday that Binev was shot dead at his residence in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Local police received a report of the shooting at around 10:30 a.m. and rushed to the scene, but Binev was already dead when they arrived.

Police launched an investigation and arrested three suspects on a road on the outskirts of Sofia. According to local media reports, two of the suspects held Turkish citizenship, while the third carried a Bulgarian identity document.

Born in 1965, Binev was a former taekwondo athlete who won the European Championships in 1992. He later entered politics, serving as a Bulgarian National Assembly member and a member of the European Parliament.

Binev had deep ties with South Korea. He was appointed to the board of Kukkiwon, the World Taekwondo Headquarters, in 2019, and in 2018 he spearheaded the formation of a support group for the development of taekwondo in Bulgaria. He is credited with working to establish Bulgaria as a taekwondo hub in Europe.