site.btaJustice Minister Georgiev Pays Tribute to Victims of the Communist Regime

Justice Minister Georgi Georgiev paid tribute to the victims of the communist regime on Saturday with a post on his Facebook profile. Georgiev said this day marks the 80th anniversary of the largest violation of Bulgaria’s Constitution and laws.

Georgiev said that the political assassinations and executions of Bulgarian lawmakers, scholars, and industrialists were clumsily masked behind "the so-called People’s Court". 

"The court dispenses justice. But the court did the exact opposite – the participants in it attempted to justify a grave injustice and a shameful stain in our history. Not a court, but a bloody baptismal font where the nation’s elite perished," Georgiev wrote.

"Today, we honour the memory of all victims of the criminal communist regime. We bow before them," Georgiev wrote. He recalled how his great-uncle, a 17-year-old member of the Goryani anti-communist resistance movement, was sentenced and served three years in the Belene labour camp.

"The Ministry of Justice is now responsible the prison in Belene, and each morning I receive updates on its operations. It is the only prison whose name still sends a chill down my spine. Nothing has been forgotten, and the events that occurred there will be recounted as long as we live," Georgiev wrote.

February 1 is observed in Bulgaria as the Day of Gratitude and Homage to the Victims of the Communist Regime.