Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Bulgaria sends last Communist premier to prison Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 16:16:30 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD Bulgaria sends last Communist premier to prison \BY ASSOCIATED PRESS \DT SOFIA, Bulgaria SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) - Bulgaria's last Communist prime minister was found guilty yesterday of giving supporters $8,400 in state money that was supposed to go to needy orphans. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Georgi Atanasov, 59, has maintained his innocence since his arrest in April on embezzlement charges. He said he will appeal the Supreme Court's decision. Atanasov has said he and a co-defendant, former Economics Minister Stoyan Ovcharov, were victims of a political trial. Ovcharov, 50, was convicted yesterday and sentenced to nine years in prison. They were the latest in a string of former Communist officials sentenced to prison for economic crimes. They were accused of embezzling the money from 1986 to 1989, while Atanasov headed the last government under Communist leader Todor Zhivkov. Zhivkov, 81, was found guilty in September of embezzling $85,000 and was sentenced to seven years in prison. He ruled for 35 years before being ousted in a party coup. Atanasov and Ovcharov were found guilty of misusing a charity fund for orphans by giving the money to 42 orphans of partisans killed fighting with the Bulgarian resistance against the Nazis during World War II. These people were middle-aged or older when they received the money. Children of former partisans were highly privileged and well cared for under the Communists. The recipients of the money, who used it to buy housing, paid back the government during the trial in an apparent effort to reduce Atanasov's sentence, which under Bulgarian law could have been 20 years. Atanasov told journalists after the verdict that his trial was staged and was "a result of the hatred that is being incited in political life by the ruling top." He has been in prison since his arrest and will remain there pending his appeal. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM