Bulgaria commemorates victims of former Communist Party

By Talha Ozturk, Ihvan Radoykov

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) - A commemoration ceremony was held Wednesday in memory of tens of thousands of victims who were massacred during the 45-year dictatorship of the former Communist Party in Bulgaria.

Ceremonies were held in parliament and in front of the Victims of Communism Monument in the capital, Sofia.

Upon the proposal of the pro-European Union (EU) and NATO parties, a moment of silence was held on the anniversary.

The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), which carries out politics along the lines of the former Communist Party and has 24 seats in the 240-member parliament, boycotted the ceremony.

With the support of the Soviet Union (USSR) Red Army, the communists who came to power in a coup in 1944, executed more than 11,000 people representing the cultural and political elite of the country through the so-called "People's Tribunal.”

Most political parties represented in the current parliament condemned the atrocities which ruled Bulgaria until 1989.

- Dark pages of Feb. 1, 1945

A year after the former Communist Party came to power Feb. 1, 1945, the "People's Tribunal" was established to settle accounts with opponents.

In 135 cases opened by the court, 11,125 people were charged and executed.

Political murders of communists continued in the following years.

According to reports, 28,000 people were killed in nine months in the first period of communism, which turned Bulgaria into a concentration camp with support from the USSR.