Bulgaria to Prosecute Pink Soviet Memorial Graffiti Author

Crime | August 22, 2013, Thursday // 11:25
Bulgaria to Prosecute Pink Soviet Memorial Graffiti Author: Bulgaria to Prosecute Pink Soviet Memorial Graffiti Author The choice of color for the "decoration" of Sofia's Soviet Army Monument was apparently a tribute to Czech artist David Cerny, who in 1991 painted pink the Soviet tank memorialized in Prague as a supposed symbol of Soviet liberation. Photo by BGNES

The Sofia Regional Prosecutor's Office has launched pre-trial proceedings for hooliganism in the case of the "pink" Soviet Army Monument in the Bulgarian capital.

On Wednesday, the controversial monument of the Soviet Army in the downtown of the Bulgarian capital Sofia was colored once again, this time in honor of the Prague Spring.

The Monument "woke up" with the Red Army soldier figures painted in pink and with the inscriptions in Bulgarian and Czech "Bulgaria apologizes" ("Bulharsko se omlouv?").

The pre-trial proceedings are against an unknown perpetrator. The punishment for such type of crime calls for up to two years of jail time and/or probation.

On Wednesday, the Sofia Regional Governor, Rosen Malinov, appointed by the left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, said he was sending a request for a probe to the prosecution, and issued an order with a 3-day deadline to clean the monument.

Thus, the artistic apology for Bulgaria's support of Warsaw Pact troops which crushed Czechoslovakia's Prague Spring uprising in 1968 has been removed overnight Wednesday into Thursday.

Unknown volunteers have now rubbed the monument in downtown Sofia clean, reporters found out early on Thursday.

According to local media reports, the overnight cleaning operation was organized by the "Forum Bulgaria-Russia" - the same organization that removed the monument's prominent "superhero makeover" back in 2011.

Until now, the above was the most famous "decoration" of the monument. In June 2011, a group of street artists painted the bronze figures of Soviet soldiers to represent various US pop culture characters, turning them into The Joker, Wolverine, Santa, Superman, Ronald McDonald, Captain America, Robin, and Wonder Woman, among others.

At the time, the prosecutor's office also launched a probe and pre-trial proceedings for hooliganism against an unknown perpetrator, but at the moment they are at a standstill as the authorities failed to identify any such perpetrator.

The latest "decorators" also remain unknown for the time being, and it is unclear exactly when the "decoration" was carried out.

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Tags: government, protests, David Cerny, Prague Spring, tank, Pink, hoods, soldiers, street art, street artists, David Cerny, Prague Spring, tank, Pink, hoods, soldiers, street art, street artists, Banksy, Soviet Army Monument, sofia, Wonder Woman, Robin, Captain America, Ronald McDonald, Superman, Santa, Wolverine, the Joker, Vladimir Putin, Russia, Pussy Riot, band, Russian, Rosen Malinov, BSP

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