Capital punishment in Bulgaria was abolished on December 12, 1998 with the last execution, that of attempted saboteur Georgi Alinski, having been carried out on November 4, 1989. [1] The Parliament of Bulgaria had introduced a moratorium on executions on July 7, 1990 and Protocol 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights came into force on October 1, 1999.
A 2016 poll found that 47% of Bulgarians were opposed to the Death Penaty, while 33% were in support. [2] [3] [4]
| Executed person | Gender | Date of sentence | Date of execution | Place of execution | Crime | Method | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marko Fridman | Male | 1925 | 27 May 1925 | Sofia | Communist terrorists participating in the St Nedelya Church assault | Hanging | [5] |
| Petar Zadgorski | |||||||
| Georgi Koev | |||||||
| Georgi Mandulov | 27 June 1925 | Anton | Conspiring to aid communist activity | Firing squad | [6] | ||
| Nesho Shabanov | |||||||
| The Gostevi brothers | |||||||
| Sokrat Kirshveng | 1937 | 14 April 1937 | Sofia | "The Killer with the Adze"; serial killer who killed his aunt and her husband during a robbery in Sofia, but had previously been convicted of killing two wives and attempting to kill a third in 1919. The first sentence was commuted to 17 years imprisonment, and he was released in 1937. | Hanging | [7] | |
| August Popov | 1942 | 26 June 1942 | Instigating communist rebellion; tried as part of the "Parachutist trial " | Firing squad | [8] | ||
| Trifon Georgiev | |||||||
| Vasil Yotov | |||||||
| Ivan Izatovski | |||||||
| Yozef Baido | |||||||
| Andon Bekyarov | |||||||
| Dimitar Dimitrov | |||||||
| Vasil Dodov | |||||||
| Stefan Pashev | |||||||
| Boris Tomchev | |||||||
| Delcho Naplatanov | |||||||
| Ivan Drenovski | |||||||
| Georgi Kratunchev | |||||||
| Dimitar Teplyakov | |||||||
| Ivan Ivanov | |||||||
| Georgi Bashikarov | |||||||
| Yanko Komitov | |||||||
| Todor Nikolov | |||||||
| Nikolai Romanov | |||||||
| Mirko Petkov | |||||||
| Simeon Slavov | |||||||
| Ivan Shterev | |||||||
| Milyo Milev | |||||||
| Dimo Astadzhov | |||||||
| Vladimir Chernov | |||||||
| Cvyatko Radoinov | [9] | ||||||
| Anton Ivanov | 23 July 1942 | Communist revolutionaries in opposition to the Filov government | [10] | ||||
| Anton Popov | [11] | ||||||
| Nikola Vaptsarov | [12] | ||||||
| Atanas Romanov | [13] | ||||||
| Petar Bogdanov | [11] | ||||||
| Georgi Minchev | [11] | ||||||
| Vasil Antevski | 18 August 1942 | Participation in the League of Communists of Yugoslavia | Hanging | [14] | |||
| Adalbert Antonov | 4 December 1942 | Participation in the Workers Youth League | Firing squad | [15] | |||
| Yovan Basarov | 21 March 1943 | Skopje | Participation in the League of Communists of Yugoslavia | Hanging | [16] | ||
| Boyan Chonos | 1943 | 13 October 1943 | Vidin | Aiding communist rebellion | [17] | ||
| Ferdinand Aleksandrov | 17 December 1943 | Pleven | Firing squad | [18] | |||
| Yakim Atanasov | 1944 | 1 March 1944 | Lom | Leading a communist partisan squadron | Hanging | [19] | |
| Ferdinand Milanov | 1 June 1944 | Plovdiv | Aiding communist rebellion | Firing squad | [20] | ||
| Yozo Tobiev | |||||||
| Yordanka Chankova | Female | Eleshnitsa | Participating on the communist side during the "Battle of Batulia " | [21] | |||
| Frank Thompson | Male | 10 June 1944 | Litakovo | [22] | |||
| Lazar Atanasov | |||||||
| Hristo Gurbov | |||||||
| Ivan Harlakov | 1945 | 1945 | Sofia | Member of the Tsarist government | [23] | ||
| Kiril, Prince of Preslav | 1 February 1945 | Member of the royal family and regent of Bulgaria | [24] | ||||
| Nikola Mihov | Lieutenant general and regent of Bulgaria | [25] | |||||
| Dobri Bozhilov | Former Prime Minister of Bulgaria, supposed charges of war and financial crimes | [26] | |||||
| Petar Gabrovski | Former Prime Minister of Bulgaria and lawyer | [27] | |||||
| Ivan Bagrianov | Member of the Tsarist government | [28] | |||||
| Rashko Atanasov | [29] | ||||||
| Ivan Beshkov | [30] | ||||||
| Ivan Vazov | [31] | ||||||
| Dimitar Shishmanov | [31] | ||||||
| Sirko Stanchev | [32] | ||||||
| Aleksandar Stanishev | [33] | ||||||
| Spas Ganev | [34] | ||||||
| Delcho Todorov | |||||||
| Nikola Stoychev | |||||||
| Bogdan Filov | 2 February 1945 | Prime Minister of Bulgaria and regent of the Tsarist government | [35] | ||||
| Aleksandar Staliyski | Collaboration with pro-Axis cabinet | [36] | |||||
| Yordan Sevov | Member of the Tsarist government | [37] | |||||
| Lyuben Stanchev | 6 March 1945 | unknown | [38] | ||||
| Konstantin Lukash | 15 March 1945 | Sofia | Officer and Chief of Staff of the Bulgarian Army | [39] | |||
| Trifon Trifonov | Member of the Tsarist government | [40] | |||||
| Nicho Georgiev | 21 April 1945 | [41] | |||||
| Vasil Zlatevski | September 1945 | Kyustendil | Goryanin, waging rebellion against the communist government | Hanging | [42] | ||
| Docho Hristov | 26 October 1945 | unknown | Attempted rebellion against the communist government | Firing squad | [43] | ||
| Executed person | Gender | Date of sentence | Date of execution | Place of execution | Crime | Method | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Faik Aliev | Male | 1948 | 1948 | Nevrokop | Goryanin, waging rebellion against the communist government | Hanging | [44] |
| Pavel Djidjov | 1952 | 3 October 1952 | Sofia | Catholics, subverting communist ideology | Firing squad | [45] | |
| Eugene Bossilkov | 11 November 1952 | [46] | |||||
| Josaphat Chichkov | [45] | ||||||
| Kamen Vitchev | |||||||
| Ivan-Asen Georgiev | 1963 | 4 January 1964 | Espionage on behalf of the United States | Shooting | [47] | ||
| Radan Sarafov | 18 February 1968 | 18 February 1969 | Espionage on behalf of the United States, France and Albania | [48] | |||
| Georgi Yordanov | 1975 | 1975 | Known as "Joro the Paver, the Second". Serial rapist who raped ten women in Sofia in the early 1970s, committing a double murder in the process. | [49] | |||
| Zhivko Dimitrov | 1981 | 1981 | Tolbuhin | Serial killer. Murdered six people in Dobrich Province from 1975 to 1981 for money. | [50] | ||
| Margarit Dimitrov | 17 April 1986 | 28 January 1987 | Sofia | Espionage on behalf of the Western countries | [51] | ||
| Georgi Alinski | 1984 | 4 November 1989 | Sofia | Attempted to sabotage a lift in Borovets to prevent the country from participating in a ski championship | [1] | ||