Diplomats Alerted of Bulgaria's National Security Advisor Communist Ties

The Bulgarian Legion "Anti-Mafia" has sent a letter to EU and NATO Ambassadors in the country to inform them that General Stoimen Stoimenov, National Security Advisor of President, Rosen Plevneliev, has been employed by the Central Committee of the Communist Party during the Communist regime.

Recently, political scientist Anton Todorov showed in a broadcast of the Channel 3 TV documents proving Stoimenov's association with the Communist party.

In a report from 1989, General Dobri Dzhurov, Minister of Defense of the Communist government of Todor Zhivkov, had proposed to promote engineer Stoimen Stoimenov, instructor at the Social and National Security Department of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party to Chief of the Political Unit of the Third Army.

"We believe that it is absolutely unacceptable 23 years after the fall of Communism and seven years after Bulgaria became a NATO member, to have the President designate as one of his top advisors a man who was holding senior Communist posts and was responsible for carrying out the Communist party policies in the Bulgarian army," the letter of the anti-mafia union states.

It quotes documents evidencing Stoimenov's appointment by Dzhurov and him being a member of the Communist party since 1963 and a political army officer since 1965.

The letter further stresses that after the fall of the Communist regime in 1989, the Bulgarian society not only failed to punish the Communist leaders for the crimes they have committed, but they were allowed to manipulate the truth and control media in the country.

The Legion have also sent several questions to Plevneliev, inquiring who is in charge of these types of appointments in the Office of the President and if candidates undergo a background check.

Information and claims about Stoimenov's Communist past have been floating anonymously on the internet ever since Plevneliev appointed him National Security Advisor.

Last week, the President commented on the case, explaining he will conduct his own check in the General's background, but noted the latter was also known as an individual working tirelessly for Bulgaria's membership in NATO.

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