Thousands of ordinary people and Bulgaria's most high-ranking state officials commemorated Saturday evening the 138th anniversary of the death of national hero, freedom fighter Vasil Levski.

Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov, Speaker of Parliament Tsetska Tsacheva, PM Boyko Borisov, as well as a number of other cabinet members took part in the memorial service at the St. Sophia church and laid wreaths at the Levski Monument in downtown Sofia, erected at the place Levski was hanged in 1873.

Levski was sentenced to death by an Ottoman court and executed in Sofia on February 18 (February 6 old style), 1873.

Memorial services for Levski have taking been held across the country, as people pay tribute to the hero at his numerous  monuments, including the Levski Memorial in downtown Sofia.

Vasil Levski, born Vasil Ivanov Kunchev in 1837, was the leader of Bulgaria's revolutionary movement aimed at national liberation from the Ottoman Empire.

Initially preparing to become an Orthodox monk, Kunchev gave this up in order to dedicate his life to fighting for Bulgaria's freedom.

With relentless and self-sacrificing dedication, Levski created and headed a network of several hundred secret revolutionary committees preparing a national rebellion.

During his participation in the First Bulgarian Legion in Belgrade, Serbia, in 1862, he received the nickname "Levski" - "Lionlike".

After organizing the revolutionary movement all across Bulgaria for several years, Levski was captured by the Ottoman Turkish police in late 1872, and was sentenced to death by hanging for his revolutionary activity.

His progressive political ideas envisaged a "holy and pure" Bulgarian republic based on the fundamental rights of everyone, abiding by democratic principles and based on religious and ethnic equality.

For his self-sacrifice and sublime ideas, Levski has been dubbed "the Apostle of Freedom" by Bulgarians.

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