Bulgaria probes fired leader's excesses
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This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from November 1989.
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The ruling Communist Party's Politburo has also decided to turn over to the public several official residences and hunting retreats mostly used by Zhivkov and his guests.
In another first, the Council of Ministers appointed a government spokesman. He is Filip Bokov, 41, an English-speaking Foreign Ministry official, who like many members of the Bulgarian nomenklatura was trained in Moscow. Zhivkov's son, Vladimir, was removed from the Central Committee's Culture Department less than two weeks after his father was toppled as party chief and state president on 10 Nov. After his father's departure from the political scene, the younger Zhivkov, denounced by knowledgeable Bulgarians for his excessive lifestyle, was certain to lose his post. Todor Zhivkov, who had been in power for over 35 years, has since been publicly accused of living in luxury at the expense of the people, and at recent government-sanctioned rallies protesters have demanded he be tried in court.
The Politburo, which has been cleared of some Zhivkov loyalists, also decided to convene the policy-setting Central Committee, BTA reported. Committee members will meet 11 to discuss the economic and social crisis and a host of other issues, it said. The Politburo also set up a special commission to consider "urgent probems related to the deformations in the social and economic life," BTA said.
BTA named 13 plush Zhivkov residences that were turned over to charitable, student and tourist organisations, including one in Pravets, Zhivkov's hometown. In addition, six hunting retreats that had been used by Zhivkov and his friends and guests, will be made available to the Ministry of Agriculture and to an organisation promoting international hunting tourism.
