Famous Like Me > Writer > M > Georgi Markov
Profile of Georgi Markov
on Famous Like Me |
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| Name: |
Georgi Markov |
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| Date of Birth: |
1st March 1929 |
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| Place of Birth: |
Bulgaria |
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| Profession: |
Writer |
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From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia
Georgi Ivanov Markov (March 1, 1929 - September 11, 1978) was a Bulgarian dissident. Markov originally worked as a novelist and playwright, but in 1969, he was defected from Bulgaria, then a communist state under the leadership of President Todor Zhivkov. After moving to the West, he worked as a broadcaster and journalist for the BBC World Service, radio free Europe, and the German Deutsche Welle. He criticised the Bulgarian communist regime many times on radio, and it is speculated that as a result of this, the Bulgarian government decided to dispose of him, requesting KGB assistance to do so.
Agents of the Bulgarian secret police assisted by the KGB made two failed attempts on Markov's life before a third attempt succeeded. On September 7, 1978, Markov walked across Waterloo Bridge, which crosses the River Thames, and was waiting at a bus stop on the other side, when he was jabbed in the leg by a man holding an umbrella. The man apologized and walked away. Markov would later tell doctors that the man had spoken in a foreign accent.
Markov remembered feeling a stinging pain from where he had been hit by the umbrella tip, and when he arrived at work at the BBC World Service offices he noticed a small red pimple had formed and the pain from being jabbed had not gone away. By the evening he had developed a high fever, and died in agony three days later.
After his death, doctors found a small platinum pellet, some 1.5 mm across, embedded in his calf. Further examination found that it had two small holes drilled in it, which contained traces of the poison ricin.
Several high profile KGB defectors, such as Oleg Gordievsky have confirmed that the KGB was behind the assassination, even presenting the Bulgarian assassin with alternatives such as a poisonous jelly to smear on Markov's skin, but to this day no-one has been charged with Markov's murder, largely because most documents pertaining to Markov's death were probably destroyed.
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