site.btaMonument to Dissident Writer Markov Unveiled in Sofia

Monument to Dissident Writer Markov Unveiled in Sofia


Sofia, November 11 (BTA) - A monument to Bulgarian dissident
writer Georgi Markov was unveiled in Sofia to mark his 85th
birth anniversary. The event comes 36 years after Markov was
murdered with a poison-packed pellet shot from an umbrella in
London on the orders of the communist-era State Security.

The 2 m tall monument in Sofia's Zhournalist Square was crafted
by sculptor Danko Dankov on the initiative of a committee
chaired by former President (1990-1997) Zhelyu Zhelev and
dissident writer Dimiter Bochev.

President Rosen Plevneliev unveiled the monument and commended
Markov's courage to become a prime example of making the choice
between freedom and acquiescence in the years when totalitarian
power denied Bulgarian citizens fundamental human rights and
dignity.

Markov's widow, Annabel, who is in Bulgaria for the unveiling of
the monument, recalled that he had never regretted defecting to
the West, but had always felt a deep bond with Bulgaria.

The ceremony was attended by former presidents Zhelyu Zhelev and
Peter Stoyanov, Interior Minister Vesselin Vouchkov, Sofia
Mayor Yordanka Fandakova, former foreign minister Nadezhda
Mihailova, as well as public figures, friends and Sofianites.