site.btaBulgarians Pay Last Respects to President Zhelev

Bulgarians Pay Last Respects to President Zhelev

Sofia, February 1 (BTA) - Hundreds flocked to the St Alexander
Nevsky Cathedral on Sunday to pay their last respects to Dr
Zhelyu Zhelev, the first democratically elected President after
the end of totalitarianism in Bulgaria. President Zhelev passed
away on January 30 at the age of 79. He is seen by Bulgarians as
the true symbol of democratic changes in their country, a man
of steadfast democratic and human values.

Attending the service in the St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral were
President Rosen Plevneliev, former Presidents Georgi Purvanov
and Peter Stoyanov, Vice President Margarita Popova, National
Assembly Chair Tsetska Tsacheva, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov,
European Commission Vice President Kristalina Georgieva, former
Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, thе Presidents of
Albania Bujar Nishani, of Kosovo Atifete Jahjaga and of
Macedonia Gjorge Ivanov and the Chairman of the Presidency of
Bosnia and Hercegovina, Mladen Ivanic.

Bulgarian Patriarch Neofit officiated a service.

In his speech President Rosen Plevneliev said that Zhelev was on
a crusade for the truth until his very last day. "Let us show
that we have learned his lesson that the wounds of democracy can
only be healed with more democracy," said Plevneliev. He went
on to recall that February 1 was a day of remembrance for the
victims of communism and that communism should be relegated to
museums and history books.

Plevneliev said that Zhelev will be remembered as one of the
most courageous fighters for freedom and democracy, as a symbol
of the peaceful transition, tolerance and the search for a
national consensus.

The President recalled Zhelev's words that as a young
post-communist democracy Bulgaria is respected for two things -
for the peaceful transition from communism to democracy and for
the democratic resolution to ethnic problems which ended in
bloodbath elsewhere.

Plevneliev said that Zhelev was very much like the Bulgarian
people itself, well-intentioned, tolerant, with an open heart
and ready to give a helping hand to anyone. "He was a good,
decent and modest man, and maintained his dignity in all of his
actions," said the head of State.