Page "Todor Zhivkov" Paragraph 37

While he was initially shown reverence in public in removal, by January 1990 he was removed from the BKP and was arrested on a number of fraud and nepotism charges.

Two years later, he was convicted of embezzling government funds and sentenced to seven years in prison.

Due to old age and poor health, he was allowed to serve his term under house arrest.

He was eventually acquitted by the Bulgarian Supreme Court in 1996.

Zhivkov retained his lucidity and interest in public affairs until his death from pneumonia in August 1998, aged 86.

His funeral was widely attended.

In an interview not long before he died, Zhivkov reportedly referred to Marxism as " nonsense ".