Criminals who tortured and killed animals in particularly painful ways in pornographic videos for money have been identified. The Bulgarian public is outraged. Waves of protests have erupted across the country, demanding justice, stronger laws, and an end to the cruelty inflicted on animals. Citizens are taking to the streets, united by a common cause—to hold abusers accountable and push for lasting change. Bulgarian NGO CAAI (Campaigns and Activism for Animals in the Industry) with the help of the informal cyber experts organization the “BG Elves” uncovered the identities of the offenders and passed the information to the authorities.
A 26-year-old woman and a 35-year-old man, named Gabriela Sashova and Krasimir Georgiev, were arrested on March 13, 2025, during a special Bulgarian police operation. This case is considered the most horrific act of serial animal torture and killing uncovered in Bulgarian history to date.
Address searches were conducted in several locations in Sofia and other cities. Mobile phones, a computer and other items used to commit the crimes were seized. Pre-trial proceedings are underway for crimes of violence against animals in a particularly torturous and cruel manner. The offenders are also held liable for financial operations and illegal property transactions assumed to have been acquired through crimes.
The perpetrators are also facing criminal charges related to financial operations and illegal property transactions, allegedly acquired through their crimes. They had established an international criminal network, operating through Telegram channels with thousands of subscribers, where they distributed videos featuring slow and extremely brutal torture of animals, including sadistic pornographic content with hard crush fetish, in exchange for money.
Their victims included dozens, possibly hundreds of animals, such as cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, fish and others. The channels lacked any moderation regarding the age of participants or content restrictions. Worse still, torture was incentivized, with payments ranging from €100 to €400 per animal for creating and sharing videos of unimaginable abuse.
CAAI has received an email containing these horrific videos. A foreign individual came across these videos who alerted the Eurogroup for Animals – the largest coalition of animal protection organizations in Europe. According to the informant, the offenders were from Bulgaria. However, beyond the brutal videos, there was little additional information to aid in their identification. Eurogroup for Animals advised them to contact CAAI, its official representative in Bulgaria.
Upon reviewing the footage, the CAAI team was deeply shocked and outraged. Despite previous exposure to animal cruelty cases, the severity of this case exceeded their worst expectations. Determined to take action, they began preparing to report the case to the police. During this process and before reaching the police, CAAI sought assistance from the BG Elves, an online community of cybersecurity experts dedicated to combating misinformation.
Within hours of receiving the materials, the BG Elves identified the main perpetrator of these gruesome crimes. Shortly thereafter, they uncovered the identity of her accomplice and other potentially connected individuals.
Despite the high level of confidentiality and accessibility of Telegram channels, the BG Elves in cooperation with CAAI, gathered sufficient information to identify the individuals behind these brutal crimes against innocent animals. The cybersecurity specialists at BG Elves managed to pinpoint the perpetrators using OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence), relying solely on publicly available data, without accessing protected information that could have made their investigation easier.
After filing a report, the case went to the General Directorate of National Police (GDNP). Inspector Kamen Nikolov and his colleagues were also horrified by the footage of dozens of videos depicting the torture and killing of animals. They immediately committed to working on the case. The gathered evidence was confirmed, and further leads were discovered, tracing the perpetrators to the cities of Sofia and Pernik. The case was then taken over by the District Prosecutor’s Office, which led to the crucial final steps of arresting the criminals and filing charges against them.
The coming to light of this criminal case led to mass protests in the cities where the criminals resided. Citizens, along with CAAI, are calling for fair sentencing, improved legislation to protect animals, greater accountability in animal cruelty cases; and traceability in online and physical pet trade and adoption.
“We must never ignore or belittle animal cruelty. World statistics show that over 90% of serial killers of humans have previously abused animals. It is crucial to stop violence at its earliest stages. It is horrifying to think that such criminals could be walking among us and even be our neighbors. We are extremely grateful for the work of the police and the prosecutor’s office.
We also thank the cyber experts group BG Elves for the enormous help they provided in this case. Together, we have proven that there is no online or physical place where such heinous crimes could be hidden – whether against animals or people. We will continue to monitor the progress of this case and demand a fair trial for the offenders of the most horrific crimes against animals ever witnessed in our country.”, said Petya Altimirska, chairwoman of CAAI.
End of Statement
Important: Photos and videos of cruelty with blurred content:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1l3xzBgtWFo2e5f-k11HgCqosbYURwME3?usp=sharing
Contacts and additional information:
Petya Altimirska (Chair of CAAI)
+359 895 93 74 20
https://caai.bg/en/
https://facebook.com/caai.bg
https://www.instagram.com/caai.bg
https://twitter.com/caai_bg
https://patreon.com/CAAIBG
CAAI is a member of the Eurogroup for Animals coalition.
