Bogomil Bonev

Last updated

Bogomil Angelov Bonev (born September 18, 1957) is a Bulgarian politician, Minister of Interior of Bulgaria between 1997 and 1999. [1]

Contents

Biography

Early years and police career

Bogomil Bonev was born on September 18, 1957, in Radomir. [1] He graduated Radmir Electronics Technical High School with a golden medal in 1977. After serving time as a soldier in the School for Officers from the reserve in Pleven, he graduated the Higher Officers Academy of the Ministry of Interior in 1981, [1] being the top graduate of that year. For this reason, in spite of the existing practice at that time, he was appointed directly in the Criminal Department of the Sofia Police Directorate, where only very successful candidates are usually appointed after a long and prominent career in the lower level police departments. He served at this position from 1981 to 1990. [1] In this department he worked in the position of a police inspector, dealing with heavy crimes. He has been promoted many times in position and rank for the successful solution of a number of cases involving murder and vault breaking.

He graduated with distinction his second university education in 1987 in the Law Department of the Saint Kliment Ohridski Sofia University. [1]

Political career

Bogomil Bonev became a member of Bulgarian Communist Party in 1975 at the age of 18. [1]

In 1990 (at the time of political changes in Bulgaria) he was reappointed on his own request in the position of an investigator of heavy crimes. Bonev was appointed Director of the Sofia Police Directorate of the Ministry of Interior in 1991 and shortly after that he became Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Interior in the government of Philip Dimitrov. At this position he was the youngest general, promoted to this rank by President of Bulgaria Zhelyu Zhelev. After the end of the fall of Philip Dimitrov's government, Bogomil Bonev resigned from the position of Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Interior on his own request. He started his legal practice and worked as a counselor of the parliamentary group of the Union of the Democratic Forces on national security issues.

In January 1997 he became Secretary on National Security Issues to the newly elect President Petar Stoyanov.

Minister of Interior

In February 1997 Bogomil Bonev was appointed Minister of Interior in the temporary government with Stefan Sofiyanski as Prime Minister. After a very successful fight against organized crime Bogomil Bonev was appointed in the same position in the cabinet of Ivan Kostov, which was the second government of the democratic forces in R. Bulgaria. Thanks to Bogomil Bonev all the 56 criteria of the "Budapest process" were then met and this made it possible for Bulgaria to be taken out of the negative Schengen visa list in accordance with the unanimous decision of the Ministers of Interior of the member states of the European Community. Bonev introduced then the first national DNA laboratory in Central and Eastern Europe and AFP–an automated dactiloscopic system. [2] He summoned a committee of experts from the FBI in the USA for their implementation. In his capacity of Minister of Interior, Bonev created the organization for and started the implementation of the new ID documents, which are even now assessed as the ones with the best defense in Europe. The most up-to-date information in the world on the defense of ID documents was used for their manufacture. In the meantime a competition was held, which was won by HP and Cappelen–Austria for the sum of 80 million leva. Yet, the Bulgarian state did not pay any money for this thanks to the terms of the competition. This is one of the rare cases in Europe when such a competition is held without arising any doubts of corruption.

In the end of 1999, after the European Committee adopted the resolution for the removal of the visa regime for Bulgaria, Ivan Kostov, Prime Minister at that time, decided to get rid of the Minister of Interior Bogomil Bonev because the latter had a considerably higher rating in society than the Prime Minister himself and his government. The intrigues, created by Atanas Atanasov, Director of the former State Security agency at that time, contributed to this. Atanas Atanasov is at present a key member of Ivan Kostov's new party. At the time when Ivan Kostov was Prime Minister, Atanasov wrote a report, which officially claimed to be directed against corruption within Ivan Kostov's government but was in fact concealing it. It was so because nothing was mentioned in this report about the corruptive privatization, carried out by Kostov himself, which did away with the official Bulgarian national airlines Balkan and gave strategic industries to Russian companies, some of which have been declared connected with the mafia.

Presidential elections in 2001

In 2001, Bonev ran for President in the presidential elections and received 19% (almost 600 000 votes) in spite of the false and unfounded accusations used by Petar Stoyanov, the President at that time, which cost Stoyanov the elections; he failed to manage to the run offs. [3] This is something no representative of the opposition at present has achieved up to the moment.

Law career

After that Bogomil Bonev worked as a lawyer. He has been consultant to world famous companies like Philip Morris in the fight against counterfeit production. In 2009 he was appointed Executive director of the International Plovdiv Fair company. [4] Bogomil Bonev has been President of the Bulgarian Equestrian Federation for 10 years.

Family

He is married to the popular in Bulgaria actress, singer-songwriter and TV journalist Nona Yotova since 2006. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petar Stoyanov</span> Bulgarian politician

Petar Stefanov Stoyanov is a Bulgarian statesman and politician who served as the 2nd President of Bulgaria from 1997 to 2002. A member of the Union of Democratic Forces, he won the second democratic election in modern Bulgarian history. Throughout Stoyanov’s presidency, Bulgaria made substantial progress in its efforts of joining NATO and the European Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kimon Georgiev</span> Prime Minister of Bulgaria (1934–35, 1944–46)

Kimon Georgiev Stoyanov was a Bulgarian general who was the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bulgaria from 1934 to 1935 and again from 1944 to 1946. He was considered a "master in the art of coup d'etats."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Union of Democratic Forces (Bulgaria)</span> Bulgarian political party

The Union of Democratic Forces is a political party in Bulgaria, founded in 1989 as a union of several political organizations in opposition to the communist government. The Union was transformed into a single unified party with the same name. The SDS is a member of the European People's Party (EPP). In the 1990s the party had the largest membership in the country, with one million members, but has since splintered into a number of small parties totaling no more than 40,000 members. The SDS proper had 12,000 members in 2016.

Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria is a political party in Bulgaria established by former Bulgarian Prime Minister Ivan Kostov (1997–2001).

The history of Bulgaria from 1990 to the present is the period of Bulgarian history that begins after the fall of Communism and the transition to a market economy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bulgaria men's national basketball team</span>

The Bulgaria men's national basketball team represents Bulgaria in international basketball. The governing body is the Bulgarian Basketball Federation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sofia University</span> Public university in Sofia, Bulgaria

Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" is a public research university in Sofia, Bulgaria. It is the oldest institution of higher education in Bulgaria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stefan Sofiyanski</span>

Stefan Antonov Sofiyanski is a Bulgarian politician who served as interim Prime Minister of Bulgaria in 1997 and was a three-term Mayor of Sofia. He was a leading member of the Union of Democratic Forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FC Dobrudzha Dobrich</span> Bulgarian football club

FC Dobrudzha is a Bulgarian football club based in Dobrich, that competes in the Second League, the second tier of Bulgarian football.

Nikolay Atanasov-Joko, also spelled Nikolai Atanasov, is a Bulgarian long jumper. His personal best jump is 8.31 metres, achieved in July 2003 in Pirgos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SK Vladislav</span> Bulgarian football club

Sporten klub Vladislav was a sports club from Varna, Bulgaria. During its history, Vladislav won the Bulgarian Football Championship three times. Vladislav's first title came at the inaugural championship in 1925 and its last was in 1934. Its official descendant by documents and history is Cherno More Varna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kostov Government</span>

The eighty-seventh cabinet of Bulgaria ruled from May 21, 1997 to July 24, 2001. The government was formed by the United Democratic Forces, an electoral alliance led by the Union of Democratic Forces, after they won a landslide victory in the 1997 parliamentary election winning 49.15% of the votes and 137 seats in the National Assembly. The cabinet was chaired by the UDF leader Ivan Kostov who shared the cabinet posts between his party and his allies. This was the largest margin of victory since the end of communism in 1990, to this day. Kostov's government was the first since 1990 to serve its entire four-year mandate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgi Ananiev</span> Bulgarian politician (1950–2021)

Georgi Gervanov Ananiev was a Bulgarian politician who served as Minister of Defence in the Kostov government between 1997 and 1999.

Atanas Georgiev Semerdzhiev was a Bulgarian senior colonel, statesman and politician.

Events in the year 2001 in Bulgaria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atanas Atanasov (politician, born 1959)</span> Bulgarian lawyer and politician (born 1959)

Atanas Petrov Atanasov is a Bulgarian politician who is currently serving as Member of the National Assembly. A member of the DSB party, which he also leads, Atansov previously served as Member of the Sofia City Council from 2011 to 2014 and Director of the State Agency for National Security from 1997 to 2001.

The 1990s in the People's Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of Bulgaria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kalin Stoyanov</span> Bulgarian politician (born 1981)

Kalin Georgiev Stoyanov is a Bulgarian law enforcement worker and politician who was the Minister of Interior in the Denkov and First Glavchev Caretaker Government. A political independent, he has worked for the Ministry of Interior since 2003, holding the position of head of the General Directorate Combatting Organised Crime between 2021 and 2023.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bogomil Bonev (Biography) (in Bulgarian) Archived August 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine , Persons @ dir.bg. Retrieved at September 6, 2011
  2. ↑ Interview with Ivan Ivanov: DNA analysis are intentionally hindered (in Bulgarian), legalworld.bg
  3. ↑ John Handley, Bulgarian political development 1989–2003, Foreign Policy Research Institute
  4. ↑ Bulgaria Former Interior Minister Tipped for Plovdiv Fair Exec Job, Sofia News Agency, April 23, 2009. Retrieved at September 6, 2011.
  5. ↑ Bulgarian Ethno Diva Weds Former Minister in Secret, Sofia News Agency, July 1, 2006. Retrieved at September 6, 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.