Bulgarian Nationalists to March Despite Prosecution Probe

The organisers of the Lukov March, commemorating the memory of controversial Bulgarian general Hristo Lukov, said on their website last week that their 17th annual nationalist march will be held on February 22, the date on which Lukov was assassinated.

The announcement came despite the prosecution announcing on Friday that it will examine whether or not the march is legal.

The prosecution said it will also look into the affairs of the organisers, the far-right Bulgarian National Union party.

The organisers reacted defiantly to the announcement of the probe.

"Undoubtedly, this prosecution action has one main purpose - to prevent the 2020 Lukov March. Whether this will happen depends on all of us and our will to stop at nothing to honour Hristo Lukov," they said in a statement on Facebook on Friday.

The organisers claim they have all the permissions needed to hold the event, despite a statement by the prosecution saying that they do not.

Hristo Lukov was a lieutenant-general, politician and Minister of War from 1935 to 1938 who fought in World War I and supported Nazi Germany during World War II.

Two Jewish members of the Bulgarian resistance movement assassinated him in 1943.

The first Lukov March was held in 2003 in Sofia and the event is often joined by nationalists from other countries, usually from the Balkans and Scandinavia.

In the past few years, the march has provoked a rival anti-fascist counter-demonstration whose participants have outnumbered the nationalist marchers.

The mayor of Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova, who is affiliated with the ruling GERB party, has often been criticised for allowing Lukov March to take place every year.

The probe of the march's legality is being run by Bulgaria's...