Today, February 1st, Bulgaria pays tribute to the victims of the communist regime. This date was declared the Day of Remembrance and Respect for the Victims of the Communist Regime by a decision of the Council of Ministers on January 20, 2011.
On February 1, 1945, the death sentences of those convicted by the First and Second panels of the People's Court were pronounced. BTA published information about the reading of the sentences in the bulletin "Daily News" of the same day.
The First Supreme Panel of the People's Court sentenced the regents, court advisors, ministers, and deputies guilty of the third national catastrophe and the atrocities against the Bulgarian people during their rule. The defendants were grouped by cabinets: Filov (first and second cabinet), Bozilov, Bagryanov and Muraviev.
"The chairman of the court, Bogdan Shulev, announced the session open and assigned the vice-chairman St. Manov to read the sentence," BTA recounts. On August 26, 1996, the Supreme Court overturned the sentences from February 1, 1945, rehabilitating the convicted.
A requiem prayer for the victims of communism will be served today in the metropolitan cathedral "St. Nedelya". Traditionally, politicians, public figures, and citizens lay wreaths and flowers in front of the Memorial to the Victims of the Communist Regime in Sofia.