Bulgaria commemorates the victims of communist rule

On February 1, Bulgaria honours the victims of the country’s communist era.

The date marks a decision by a Bulgarian communist “People’s Court” on 1st of February, 1945 to sentence to death three regents of the young Bulgarian king, 67 members of parliament, 22 cabinet ministers and 40 military generals and senior officers of the Bulgarian Royal Army, as well as a number of other political figures.

The death sentences were executed on the same day.

A total of 2,700 people from Bulgaria’s elite were killed over a period of several months.

The day of remembrance and respect to the victims of the communist regime is celebrated on 1st of February at the proposal of the presidents of Bulgaria Zhelyu Zhelev (1990-1997) and Petar Stoyanov (1997-2002).

The day was marked with a liturgy at the wall with the names of the victims of communism, and dozens of people came to light a candle for their loved ones.

Tsveta Karayancheva, Speaker of the Bulgarian Parliament wrote on Facebook:: “We bow our heads in pain to the memory of the representatives of Bulgaria’s intellectual, spiritual and economic elite destroyed by totalitarian repression.”

Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borissov also wrote on Facebook: “Eternal memory of the victims of the communist regime! 76 years ago, the so-called "People's Court", which is neither a people's court nor a court at all, marked the beginning of one of the darkest trials in our history. Illegitimate, primitive and politically controlled, it physically liquidated part of the nation's elite, “ he said..

“Unfortunately, there are still voices that this criminal act was ‘necessary and unavoidable justice’,“ the PM added.