A general blamed for the death of pilot Valentin Terziev has been assigned to investigate plane crashes

The general involved in the tragic accident that killed military pilot Lt. Valentin Terziev, whose MIG-29 plane crashed in the waters of the Black Sea, was assigned to the “Investigation of Aviation Accidents and Incidents with Military Aircraft” department in the leadership of the “Military Police” service at the Ministry of Defense. It is a matter of o.r. Brigadier General Petyo Mirchev, who for almost two months has the rank of civil servant and expert in the important department, which according to art. 2, para. 2, item 7 of the Military Police Act, is responsible for “investigation of aviation accidents and incidents involving military aircraft”. This was learned by Faktor.bg from its sources in the Ministry of Defense. Gen.

Mirchev was named directly by the wife of the pilot Terziev – Dimitrina Popova as guilty of the accident, together with the commander of the Air Force Gen. Dimitar Petrov and the commander of the “Graf Ignatievo” Air Base, Gen. Nikolai Rusev. At that time, Mirchev was the deputy head of the training where the tragic accident happened. Despite Dimitrina Popova’s doubts, none of the three generals was charged with either administrative or criminal responsibility. The paradoxical and scandalous thing in this case is that a person connected to a serious plane crash becomes an expert in the department that must investigate such incidents, say people familiar with the work in the “Military Police”. In addition, the MoD commented that the appointment of Mirchev as a civil servant had taken place

in violation – no competition,

during the time of Minister Todor Tagarev. This is evidence of unprincipled policies, disregard for laws and moral norms, military aviation sources explain.

For the tragic incident, pre-trial proceedings were initiated and two individuals from the Air Force were charged with causing death due to negligence. However, in the fall of last year, the prosecutor’s office dropped the charges and closed the investigation against Col. Metodi Orlov, deputy commander of flight training at the Graf Ignatievo Air Base and head of training firings in June 2021 and deputy chief of staff of the Air Force Col. Yuri Lukanov.
This gave the Minister of Defense Todor Tagarev a reason to announce in his report that due to the statute of limitations, it is no longer possible to seek disciplinary and other responsibility for the death of the pilot and the loss of the plane.

The actions of the Sofia Military Prosecutor’s Office and the words of Tagarev were refuted in March of this year – the Military Court of Appeal canceled the termination of the investigation into the death of pilot Major Valentin Terziev and returned the case for a new investigation.

In army circles, it is commented that the responsibility for the tragedy has been obscured, and the culprits have been covered up and even rewarded. With a deliberate declaration in the National Assembly in August 2021, it was pointed out that due to the dismissal of the case of the crashed military plane, Colonel Ivaylo Sotirov received from President Radev the rank of general and a promotion – head of the “Military Police”. Now another connected with the tragedy is getting an important appointment, without competition.

We remind you that the pilot Terziev died on the night of June 9, 2021 in the sea near Shabla during a night exercise.
Then his MiG-29 fighter jet crashed into the sea after hitting a dropped target that was too low.