February 1 is Day of Remembrance and Respect to Victims of the Communist Regime in Bulgaria.

On this day, in 1945, 3 regents, 67 MPs, cabinet ministers, generals, colonels and bankers were sentenced to death and were shot on the same day. The “people’s tribunals” issued more than 10,000 sentences in 131 trials. 2,600 people were sentenced to death, over 200 more were killed even before their formal trials. Thousands lie in unmarked graves, murdered without trial or sentence.

Today, the public paid tribute to the victims of communism at the chapel and the memorial wall in the centre of Sofia. Commemoration events and memorial church services were held at the Sunny Beach concentration camp near Lovech, as well as at the concentration camp on Persin or Belene island, and in many regional towns.

President Rumen Radev also paid tribute to the victims of communism in Sofia.