site.btaFormer Bulgarian Prime Minister Georgi Atanassov Dies at 88

Bulgaria's last communist prime minister, Georgi Atanassov, passed away on Thursday morning at age 88.

Born on July 25, 1933, Atanassov graduated in history from Sofia University in 1956 and joined the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) that same year. He rose through the ranks of the Young Communist League and the BCP apparat until elected member of the decision-making Politburo of the BCP Central Committee in 1986.

Atanassov was MP in four National Assemblies. He served as Vice President of the State Council and, between March 1986 and February 1990, as Chairman of the Council of Ministers.

After the fall of the regime in November 10, 1989, he was tried for the country's economic catastrophe and received a 10 year prison sentence, of which he served two years, after which he was released on health grounds and was pardoned by President Zhelyu Zhelev.

Atanassov was Bulgaria's oldest living ex-prime minister and the last surviving head of government from the period before November 10, 1989.