BULGARIA MARKS 141 ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF NATIONAL HERO VASIL LEVSKI

Traditionally every year on 19th February, Bulgaria marks the anniversary of the hanging (1873) of Vasil Levski (Vasil Ivanov Kounchev) – a revolutionary, democrat, ideologist, organizer and leader of the Bulgarian national liberation movement, founder of the Internal Revolutionary Organisation (IRO) and of the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee (BRCC), dubbed as the Apostle of Bulgarian Freedom for his self-sacrifice in developing a strategy to liberate Bulgaria from Ottoman Yoke.

After organizing the revolutionary movement across Bulgaria for several years, Vasil Levski was captured by the Ottoman authorities and was executed by hanging on 18th of February 1873 in the outskirts of Sofia.

Ministry of Interior has undertaken the necessary security measures to react in the event of provocations and clashes. On 18th February, the Bulgarian President and Prime Minister came out with a joint declaration in relation to the day dedicated to the Bulgarian Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski. The declaration calls for not using that day for short-term political objectives and cheap populism.