site.btaSofia University Honours Alumni Who Confronted Communist Regime during Prague Spring

The Rector of the St Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia, Prof. Georgi Valchev, has conferred the Rector's Badge of Honour on Alexander Dimitrov, Eduard Genov (posthumously) and Valentin Radev (posthumously) for their civic valour, services to democracy and freedom, as well as for the stance they took during the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, the University said on Thursday.

The ceremony took place on Wednesday in the presence of Valchev, Vice-Rector Parvan Parvanov, former Bulgarian President Petar Stoyanov, lecturers, students and relatives of the honorees.

On January 11, 1969, Dimitrov, Genov and Radev, who studied history at the University, were convicted for protesting against the Bulgarian participation in the Warsaw Pact aggression against Czechoslovakia. The invasion responded to the Prague Spring reforms that intended to expand citizens' rights, partially decentralize the economy, and democratize the political system.

Addressing Wednesday's ceremony, the Archives State Agency President, Assoc. Prof. Mihail Gruev, pointed out that during that period Bulgarian Communist dictator Todor Zhivkov had reason to be concerned that Bulgarian intellectuals and youth publicly sympathized with the Prague Spring. "Zhivkov became one of the most implacable opponents to the processes in Czechoslovakia," Gruev pointed out.

"Even though the Bulgarian intelligentsia obviously supported the Prague Spring and empathized with the Czechs and Slovaks, only a few decided to protest. Prominent among them was a group of students of the Sofia University's Faculty of Philosophy and History consisting of Eduard Genov, Alexander Dimitrov and Valentin Radev'', Assoc. Prof. Gruev emphasized.

In September 1968, a month after the troops of five Warsaw Pact countries (including Bulgaria) invaded Czechoslovakia, the three students dropped leaflets in letter boxes in Sofia and Plovdiv stating "Out with the troops of puppet Zhivkov from Czechoslovakia!"

They were apprehended in late October while preparing a new protest action.

"It can definitely be argued that the three brave and selfless students were the most harshly and mercilessly punished [among the protesters], as they paid for their audacity not only with their freedom but also with their health and with their entangled lives," Gruev noted.

In early 1969, they were sentenced to imprisonment: five years for Genov, three years for Dimitrov, and two years for Radev. All three appealed the sentence. It was later reduced to three years for Genov, two years for Dimitrov, and one year and two months for Radev.

At Wednesday's ceremony, Alexander Dimitrov said that he and his two fellow students reacted spontaneously against the actions of the then Bulgarian politicians.

On September 4, 2018, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of these events, the then Slovak President Andrej Kiska conferred Slovakia's highest state honour, the Order of the White Double Cross, on Genov (posthumously), Dimitrov and Radev (posthumously). The decree stated that the three were honoured "for outstanding services to the protection of democracy and human rights."