Assassination of Georgi Markov

Georgi Markov left Bulgaria in 1969 and settled in Britain, where he worked as a broadcaster. His broadcasts criticized Bulgarian Communist Party leader Todor Zhivkov and described life under the regime.

On September 7, 1978, Markov felt a sharp pain in his leg while waiting for a bus near Waterloo Bridge. He later recalled seeing a man retrieve an umbrella. Markov fell ill and died four days later. Investigators recovered a pellet from his leg and attributed his death to ricin poisoning. The umbrella became the best-known part of the account, although investigators did not recover the suspected weapon.

Investigators and later accounts focused on Bulgarian state security and possible assistance from the Soviet KGB. In 1993 a member of the House of Lords asked the British government about former KGB officer Oleg Kalugin, who had publicly said he helped plan the murder. The government replied that the Metropolitan Police and Bulgarian authorities were investigating. Accounts have since identified suspects, including Francesco Gullino, without a trial establishing who killed Markov.