Who is Andrey Karlov Lukanov? He was born in Moscow in 1938 in the family of Bulgarian communist Karlo Lukanov. On November 10, 1989, Andrey Lukanov was among the ones who ousted Todor Zhivkov from the highest position of the Bulgarian Communist Party (General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party). Earlier Lukanov occupied high state positions linked with the country's foreign trade relations and the governments' currency and financial deals. His role in the beginning of the transition period from communism to democracy was huge. Lukanov remained close to Kremlin until his last day.

After the plenum of the Bulgarian Communist Party on November 10, 1989, Abdrey Lukanov occupied the highest positions in his party and the Bulgarian state. He was Prime Minister in two cabinets in 1990. During his first mandate Bulgaria officially declared bankruptcy and a moratorium on the payment of its foreign debts to western banks. His government is associated with the distribution of the so-called red brief cases. As a result, people who were close to the Bulgarian Socialist Party at that time became millionaires overnight.

On July 7, 1992, Lukanov was arrested and the state initiated a lawsuit against him. However, the trial ended without a verdict and he was released on December 30 the same year. Three years later Lukanov headed the Bulgaria-Russia shareholder's company Topenergy which became Bulgaria's intermediary in the Russian gas supplies to that country.

But what happened on October 2, 1996?

Lukanov had to attend meetings in Topenergy, but he was late. That is why he asked his personal driver to take him to the office, although it was within a walking distance from his home. The only witness of his murder was a woman who was cleaning a private school which was situated in the same building where Lukanov and his wife had a flat. She saw a man who looked like a bum who also stayed in front of the building in the days preceding Lukanov's murder. As usual, Lukanov walked out of the building and headed towards the car. He went in, but later went back to take his keys. Few seconds later some gunshots were heard and Lukanov dropped dead on the pavement. The bum ran nearby the car. This was how Bulgarian journalist Angelina Petrova described Andrey Lukanov's Murder in her book entitled The Innocent Guilty.

The golden archives of the Bulgarian National Radio keep a recording of the speech delivered by National Assembly President Blagovest Sendov at Andrey Lukanov's funeral:

“Bereaved family, relatives and friends of the deceased, ladies and gentlemen, we are now bidding our farewell to a remarkable man, politician and statesman. We are bidding our farewell to Andrey Lukanov. Today the Bulgarian National Assembly is in deep mourning. Dozens and hundreds of friends and followers of the departed across the entire civilized world are now mourning together with us and bow their heads to his name, deeds and memory.”

MP from the Union of the Democratic Forces and former Chairman of the Democratic Party Stefan Savov answered a journalist question about Andrey Lukanov's murder:

“We believe that the murder of Mr. Andrey Lukanov, no matter how heavy and serious this criminal case is, is not a reason for any state of emergency and emergency measures, which may postpone the Presidential elections in Bulgaria. This murder proves that organized crime is flourishing in this country and that the cabinet of Zhan Videnov is incapable of coping with this crime, even when it comes to people from the closest encirclement of the parliamentary floor of the socialist partyл”

In fact, no one from the former Zhan Videnov cabinet made an explanation or even an assumption of who might have been interested in the murder of the chairman of Topenergy Andrey Lukanov.

According to one of the versions about his murder, Lukanov had become a threat for some private companies from the business circles near the Bulgarian Socialist Party such as Multigroup which had an aspiration to become intermediaries in the lucrative business with Russian gas supplies and intended to take control over the gas transferring network, which was at that time state property.

According to another version, Lukanov's murder was linked with the conflict between Andrey Lukanov and the economic circle Orion, which was close the Establishment of the Bulgarian Socialist Party. Orion was headed by Rumen Spassov, the son of former Deputy Minister of Interior in Todor Zhivkov's government Mircho Spassov. The members of Orion become powerful and influential in no time thanks to their party relations with the Bulgarian Agrarian and Industrial Bank founded with capital of Russian oligarch Michael Cherney.

The owner of construction company Colonel Angel Vassilev also became a shareholder in Orion's bank. In 1999 Vassilev was one of the people charged of Lukanov's murder. He was arrested in Prague on June 4, 1999 and sent back to Bulgaria. Another two Bulgarians - Vassilev's driver Yuri Lenev and Georgi Georgiev, as well as two Ukrainian nationals Alexander Rusov and Alexey Kichatov were accused of Lukanov's murder. On November 28, 2003, the defendants received life in prison without parole. However, they appealed against the verdict and three and a half years later on March 15, 2007, all defendants were acquitted. Some shocking details of how the defendants were interrogated and forced to admit their guilt during the trial were made public. Yuri Lenev filed a lawsuit against Bulgaria in Strasbourg for the suffering he went under. Later, Bulgaria paid EUR 27,000 under this lawsuit.

Andrey Lukanov's murder remained one of the most emblematic associations in Bulgaria's newest history and an evidence of the criminal way the transition period was carried out and how the transformation of the state property into public property happened.

After Lukanov's murder the crisis in Bulgaria deepened and the Videnov cabinet was not capable to deal with it. In the beginning of 1997 the country was paralyzed with massive workers' strikes, inflation was skyrocketing and the deficit of food was huge. That is why on January 10, 1997 a large-scale street protest was launched in Bulgaria, where protesters demanded the resignation of Premier Videnov and his cabinet members.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov