site.btaPopular Bulgarian TV Host Dimiter Tsonev Passes Away at 56

Popular Bulgarian TV Host Dimiter Tsonev Passes Away at 56

Sofia, August 23 (BTA) - Popular Bulgarian TV host Dimiter Tsonev passed away Tuesday at the age of 56. He died in a Sofia hospital where he was admitted ten days earlier with a severe stroke.

Tsonev was the host of a popular political talk show on the Bulgarian National Television (BNT).

He was born in Sofia in 1959. His father was renowned actor Kosta Tsonev and his mother the TV presenter Anahid Tacheva. He had a degree in law from Sofia University but all his career was connected with TV journalism.

He briefly went into politics and the private sector: as spokesperson of the government of Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and a member of his political cabinet between 2002 and 2005, and spokesperson for the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company between 2005 and 2007. He then went back to journalism, first hosting the "On Sunday with ..." show on BNT, then moving to bTV as the host of two talk shows and going back to BNT in 2014.

He also authored 17 documentaries and played in six Bulgarian feature films.

Messages of condolences were sent to Tsonev's family by President Rosen Plevneliev, Prime Minister Booyko Borissov, Parliament leader Tsetska Tsacheva and former Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, among others.