Ministers paid their respects at the memorial plaque of the Belene camp

Ministers and deputy ministers, representatives of the local authorities and the community visited the former Belene camp on today's Day of Appreciation and Tribute to the Victims of the Communist Regime to pay their respect.

The initiative for the honorary act in the concentration camp was taken by the Ministers of Environment and Water Julian Popov, of Justice Atanas Slavov and of Culture Krastyu Krastev.

To pay their respects and lay flowers at the memorial plaque of the Belene camp they were joined by the Ministers of Defence Todor Tagarev, of Health prof. Hristo Hinkov, of e-government Alexander Yolovski, Deputy Ministers of Energy Krasimir Nenov, of Transport and Communications Biser Minchev, of Culture Chavdar Georgiev, and of Justice Emil Dechev.

Flowers were also presented on behalf of the Prime Minister acad. Nikolay Denkov, who is on a working visit in Brussels, as well as from other ministries.

The act of paying tribute was also attended by the mayor of Belene Milen Dulev, the director of the Belene Island Foundation Mihail Marinov, and Luisa Slavkova, Borislav Dimitrov and prof. Momchil Metodiev from the Sofia Platform Foundation.

The Belene camp is the largest, the longest existing and the best preserved of the network of prisons for the internment of dissidents after 1944 in Bulgaria. This year marks the 75th anniversary of its opening. For the sake of historical memory and duty to future generations, a publicly accessible place of remembrance and appreciation for the victims deserves to be built.

At the same time, Persin Island is home to one of the largest and most species-rich nature parks in Bulgaria. The town and the islands of the Belene archipelago have the potential to become a destination for ecological, historical and cultural tourism.