Editing Georgi Markov

{{short description|Bulgarian dissident writer (1929–1978)}}
{{About|the Bulgarian dissident|other people named Georgi Markov|Georgi Markov (disambiguation)}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Georgi Markov
| native_name        = {{Nobold|Георги Иванов Марков}}
| image              = Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov.tiff
| image_size         = 200px
| caption            = 
| birth_name         = 
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|df=y|1929|3|1}}
| birth_place        = {{nowrap|[[Sofia]], [[Kingdom of Bulgaria]]}}
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|df=y|1978|9|11|1929|3|1}}
| death_place        = {{nowrap|[[Balham]], London, England}}
| death_cause        = Ricin poisoning
| occupation         = Writer, broadcaster, playwright, [[anti-communist]] dissident
| notable_works      = ''The Truth that Killed''
| module             = 
}}

'''Georgi Ivanov Markov''' ({{langx|bg|Георги Иванов Марков}} {{IPA|bg|ɡɛˈɔrɡi ˈmarkov|}}; 1 March 1929 – 11 September 1978) was a Bulgarian dissident writer. He originally worked as a novelist, screenwriter and playwright in his native country, the [[People's Republic of Bulgaria]], until his defection in 1969. After relocating to London, he worked as a broadcaster and journalist for the [[BBC World Service]], the [[Radio Free Europe]] and [[West Germany]]'s [[Deutsche Welle]]. Markov used such forums to conduct a campaign of sarcastic criticism against the incumbent Bulgarian-Soviet regime.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2012/sep/14/bulgaria-umbrella-murder-archive-1978 |title=From the archive, 14 September 1978: Bulgarian dissident killed by poisoned umbrella at London bus stop |author=((Guardian Staff)) |date=14 September 2012 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=7 June 2019 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> 

Markov was assassinated on a London street via a micro-engineered pellet that might have contained [[ricin]].<ref name="elbdisliker">{{Cite web |title=Georgi Markov - Death in a Pellet, a report to the Medico-Legal Society |url=http://elbdisliker.at.ua/Jedy/Georgi_Markov-Death_in_a_Pellet.pdf}}</ref> Contemporary newspaper accounts reported that he had been stabbed in the leg with an [[Bulgarian umbrella|umbrella]] delivering a poisoned pellet, wielded by someone associated with the [[Committee for State Security (Bulgaria)|Bulgarian Secret Service]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=The poison-tipped umbrella: the death of Georgi Markov in 1978 |date=9 September 2020 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/from-the-archive-blog/2020/sep/09/georgi-markov-killed-poisoned-umbrella-london-1978 |newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref> Annabel Markov recalled her husband's view about the umbrella, telling the BBC's ''[[Panorama (British TV programme)|Panorama]]'' programme, in April 1979, "He felt a jab in his thigh. He looked around and there was a man behind him who'd apologized and dropped an umbrella. I got the impression as he told the story that the jab hadn't been inflicted by the umbrella but that the man had dropped the umbrella as cover to hide his face."<ref>{{Citation |title=Panorama, April 1979 |date=24 October 2014 |url=https://rutube.ru/video/1f269596f2e0c8e3df40ee5dd98af757/}}</ref>  It was reported after the fall of the Soviet Union that the Soviet [[KGB]] had assisted the Bulgarian Secret Service.<ref name=kirilenko/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Rózsa |first1=L. |last2=Nixdorff |first2=K. |year=2006 |chapter=Biological Weapons in Non-Soviet Warsaw Pact Countries |pages=157–168 |editor1-last=Wheelis |editor1-first=M. |editor2-last=Rózsa |editor2-first=L. |editor3-last=Dando |editor3-first=M. |title=Deadly Cultures: Biological Weapons since 1945 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |location=[[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]] |isbn=0-674-01699-8 }}</ref>

== Life in Bulgaria ==
Georgi Markov was born on 1 March 1929, in Knyazhevo, a [[Sofia]] neighbourhood. In 1946, he graduated from the ''[[Gymnasium (school)|Gymnasium]]'' (high school) and began university studies in industrial [[chemistry]]. Initially, Markov worked as a [[chemical engineer]] and a teacher in a technical school. At the age of 19, he became ill with [[tuberculosis]] which forced him to attend various hospitals. His first literary attempts occurred during that time. In 1957, a novel, ''The Night of Caesium'', appeared. Soon another novel, ''The Ajax Winners'' (1959) and two collections of short stories (1961) were published. In 1962, Markov published the novel ''Men'' which won the annual award of the Union of Bulgarian Writers and he was subsequently accepted as a member of the Union, a prerequisite for a professional career in [[literature]]. Georgi Markov started working at the Narodna Mladezh Publishing House. The story collections ''A Portrait of My Double'' (1966) and ''The Women of Warsaw'' (1968) secured his place as one of the most talented young writers in Bulgaria. Markov also wrote a number of plays but most of them were never staged or were removed from theatre repertoire by the Communist censors: ''To Crawl Under the Rainbow'', ''The Elevator'', ''Assassination in the Cul-de-Sac'', ''Stalinists'' and ''I Was Him''. The novel ''The Roof'' was halted in mid-printing since it described as a fact and in allegorical terms the collapse of the roof of the Lenin steel mill. Markov was one of the authors of the popular TV series ''[[Every Kilometer]]'' (''Всеки километър'' or ''At Every Milestone'') which created the character of the Second World War detective Velinsky and his nemesis the Resistance fighter Deyanov.

Although some of his works were banned, Georgi Markov had become a successful author. He was among the writers and poets that [[Todor Zhivkov]] tried to co-opt and coerce into serving the regime with their works. During this period Markov had a [[Bohemian style|bohemian lifestyle]], which was unknown to most Bulgarians.<ref>{{cite web|title=Who Killed Georgi Markov? |url=http://yesterday.uktv.co.uk/blogs/article/who-killed-georgi-markov/|website=yesterday.uktv.co.uk|access-date=27 May 2016}}</ref>

== Writer and dissident ==
{{More citations needed section|date=December 2024}}
Although not yet confirmed,<ref>Един старинар. Джордж Оруел, Шерлок Холмс, българският език и джендърите или Защо не желая да живея в ЕС? Страници из моя блог. С., 2019, с. 57–58. {{ISBN|978-619-239-159-1}}.</ref> Markov's first published work was considered to be "The Whiskey Record Holder", which was issued in the newspaper "Narodna kultura."<ref>Речник по нова българска литература 1878–1992. С., 1994, с. 217. {{ISBN|954-428-061-8}}.</ref> There are at least three versions as to when he debuted as an author:<ref>Чернев, Чавдар. Как се роди Георги Марков? Нов материал за библиографията на писателя // Библиотека, ХІV, 2007, № 5–6, с. 38–50.</ref>
* Slav Karaslavov's version (1972) claims that Markov debuts in the newspaper "Stershel" in 1952. In the same year, signed by B. Aprilov and G. Markov, the feuilleton "The Forest of Horrors" was published in the newspaper.<ref>Чернев, Чавдар. Как се роди Георги Марков? Нов материал за библиографията на писателя // Библиотека, ХІV, 2007, № 5–6, с. 38–50.</ref>
* Yordan Vasilev's version (1990) – according to him, Markov debuts in the newspaper "Narodna armia"<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-03-22|title=Вестник Българска Армия – За нас {{!}} Информационен център на Министерство на oтбраната|url=https://armymedia.bg/%d0%b2%d0%b5%d1%81%d1%82%d0%bd%d0%b8%d0%ba-%d0%b1%d1%8a%d0%bb%d0%b3%d0%b0%d1%80%d1%81%d0%ba%d0%b0-%d0%b0%d1%80%d0%bc%d0%b8%d1%8f-%d0%b7%d0%b0-%d0%bd%d0%b0%d1%81/|access-date=2021-08-04|language=bg-BG}}</ref> in 1951. Signed as "Georgi Markov", "The Whiskey Record Holder" (7 July 1951) and "Bolshevik" (12 December 1951) were published.<ref>Чернев, Чавдар. Как се роди Георги Марков? Нов материал за библиографията на писателя // Библиотека, ХІV, 2007, № 5–6, с. 38–50.</ref>

* Aleksander Kostov's version<ref>{{Cite web|title=Литературен свят » A » Александър Костов|url=https://literaturensviat.com/?p=81747|access-date=2021-08-04|language=bg-BG}}</ref> (1996) says that Markov debuts in the newspaper "Zemedelsko zname" in 1947. Signed as "G. Markov", many of his works, some of which are "Giordano Bruno" (19 February 1947) and "Heinrich Heine" (21 February 1947), were published.
 
In 1969, Markov left for [[Bologna]], Italy, where his brother lived. His initial idea was to wait until his status with the Bulgarian authorities improved, but he gradually changed his mind and decided to stay in the West, especially after September 1971 when the Bulgarian government refused to extend his passport. Markov moved to London, where he learned English and started working for the [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] section of the [[BBC World Service]] (1972). He tried to work for the film industry, hoping for help from Peter Uvaliev, but was unsuccessful. Later he also worked with [[Deutsche Welle]] and [[Radio Free Europe]]. In 1972, Markov's membership in the Union of Bulgarian Writers was suspended and he was sentenced ''in absentia'' to six years and six months in prison for his defection.

His works were withdrawn from [[Library|libraries]] and [[Bookselling|bookshops]] and his name was not mentioned by the official Bulgarian media until 1989. The Bulgarian Secret Service opened a file on Markov under the code name "Wanderer." In 1974, his play ''To Crawl Under the Rainbow'' was staged in London, while in Edinburgh the play ''Archangel Michael'', written in English, won first prize. The novel ''The Right Honourable Chimpanzee'', co-written with David Phillips, was published after his death. In 1975, Markov married [[Annabel Dilke]]. The couple had a daughter, Alexandra-Raina, born a year later.

Between 1975 and 1978, Markov worked on his ''In Absentia Reports'', an analysis of life in [[People's Republic of Bulgaria|Communist Bulgaria]]. They were broadcast weekly on [[Radio Free Europe]]. Their criticism of the Communist government and of the Party leader [[Todor Zhivkov]] made Markov, even more, an enemy of the regime.

{{quote|Today, we Bulgarians present a fine example of what it is to exist under a lid which we cannot lift and which we no longer believe someone else can lift... And the unending slogan which millions of loudspeakers blare out is that everyone is fighting for the happiness of others. Every word spoken under the lid constantly changes its meaning.  Lies and truths swap their values with the frequency of an alternating current...We have seen how personality vanishes, how individuality is destroyed, how the spiritual life of a whole people is corrupted to turn them into a listless flock of sheep. We have seen so many of those demonstrations which humiliate human dignity, where normal people are expected to applaud some paltry mediocrity who has proclaimed himself a demi-god and condescendingly waves to them from the heights of his police inviolability...<ref>{{cite book|author=Markov, Georgi|year=1984|title=The Truth That Killed|publisher=Ticknor & Fields|isbn=978-0-89919-296-3|page=prologue}}</ref>|Georgi Markov describing life under an [[authoritarian]] regime in ''The Truth that Killed''}}
In 1978, Markov was killed in London (see below), allegedly by an operative connected to the [[KGB]] and the Bulgarian secret police under Zhivkov. His ''In Absentia Reports'' were published in Bulgaria in 1990, after the end of the Communist government.

In 2000, Markov was posthumously awarded the [[Order of Stara Planina]], Bulgaria's most prestigious honour, for his "significant contribution to the Bulgarian literature, drama and non-fiction and for his exceptional civic position and confrontation to the Communist regime."

== Assassination ==
On 7 September 1978, Markov walked across [[Waterloo Bridge]] spanning the [[River Thames]] and waited to take a bus to his job at the [[BBC]]. While at the bus stop, he reported feeling a slight sharp pain, as if from an insect bite or sting, on the back of his right thigh. He reportedly saw a man picking up an umbrella off the ground behind him.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Will |first1=George F. |title=Enemies of the West |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1984/11/01/enemies-of-the-west/199dbfdf-3b6e-437c-9d8e-7e320e1f3dc7/ |access-date=14 December 2024 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=1 November 1984 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220317221822/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1984/11/01/enemies-of-the-west/199dbfdf-3b6e-437c-9d8e-7e320e1f3dc7/ |archive-date=17 March 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

When he arrived at work at the BBC World Service offices, he noticed a small red [[pimple]] had formed at the site of the sting he had felt earlier and the pain had not lessened or stopped. He told at least one of his colleagues at the BBC, Theo Lirkov, about this incident.<ref>{{Citation| last=Volodarsky| first=Boris | title=The KGB's Poison Factory| publisher=Zenith Press|isbn=978-1526724274 | chapter=Georgi Markov| date=February 2018 }}</ref> That evening, he developed a fever and was admitted to St James' Hospital in [[Balham]], where he died four days later, on 11 September 1978, at the age of 49. His grave is in a small churchyard at the [[Church of St Candida and Holy Cross]] in [[Whitchurch Canonicorum]], Dorset.{{fact|date=October 2023}}

=== Later investigation and aftermath ===
[[File:Ricin bullet size.png|thumb|Ricin bullet. For comparison, a pin head is about 2 mm.]]
Bernard Riley, the physician treating Markov, considered many possible causes of his illness, including that he had been bitten by a venomous tropical snake. Riley had the inflamed area at the back of his leg x-rayed, but no foreign object was detected at this time.<ref name="Reunion">{{Citation |title=The Reunion: The Murder of Georgi Markov |publisher=[[BBC]] |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00p093l}}</ref> Due to the circumstances and statements Markov made to doctors expressing the suspicion that he had been poisoned, the [[Metropolitan Police]] ordered a thorough [[post-mortem]] of his body. Rufus Crompton performed it, noting a red mark on the back of Markov's leg. He cut a tissue sample from the area, with a matching sample from the other leg. These samples were sent for further analysis at the [[Porton Down]] chemical and biological weapons laboratory. There, David Gall, the Research Medical Officer, found a tiny pellet in the tissue sample.<ref name="elbdisliker"/>

The pellet measured {{convert|1.70|mm}} in diameter and was composed of 90% [[platinum]] and 10% [[iridium]]. It had two holes with diameters of {{convert|0.35|mm|3|abbr=on}} drilled through it, producing an X-shaped cavity. Further examination by experts from Porton Down could not detect any remnant of poison. Considering possible poisons, scientists hypothesised that the pellet might have contained [[ricin]].<ref name="elbdisliker"/>

Porton Down scientists also thought that a sugary substance had been used to coat the tiny holes, creating a bubble that trapped the poison inside the cavities, with a specially crafted coating designed to melt at {{convert|37|C}}: [[human body temperature]]. After the pellet was inside Markov, the coating might have melted and the poison released to be absorbed into the bloodstream and killed him.<ref name="elbdisliker"/>

Regardless of whether the doctors treating Markov had known that the poison might have been ricin, the result would have been the same, as no [[antidote]] exists for ricin.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/emergency/chemical_terrorism/ricin.htm#:~:text=No%20antidote%20exists%20for%20ricin,seizures%20and%20low%20blood%20pressure. | title=The Facts About Ricin }}</ref>

[[File:Markov umbrella.svg|thumb|right|A diagram of a possible umbrella gun]]

Ten days before the assassination, an attempt was made to kill another Bulgarian defector, Vladimir Kostov, in the same manner as Markov, in a [[Paris Métro]] station.<ref>{{cite book |first=John D. |last=Bell |title=Bulgaria in Transition: Politics, Economics, Society, and Culture after Communism |publisher=[[Westview Press]] |location=[[Boulder, Colorado|Boulder]] |year=1998 |page=251}}</ref>

[[KGB]] defector [[Oleg Kalugin]] alleged that the Bulgarian Secret Service arranged the murder with help from the Soviet KGB. Nobody has been charged with Markov's murder, largely because most documents relating to it are unavailable, probably destroyed. Kalugin said that Markov had been killed using an umbrella gun.<ref name=kirilenko>{{cite news|first1=Anastasia |last1=Kirilenko |first2=Claire |last2=Bigg |title=Ex-KGB agent Kalugin: Putin was 'only a major' |url=http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-ex-kgb-kalugin-putin-only-a-major/26930384.html |publisher=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]]|date=31 March 2015}}</ref>

''[[The Sunday Times]]'' reported <!--WRONG DATE? on 17 May 2006 (page 27) --> that the prime suspect was an Italian, [[Francesco Gullino]] or Giullino, who was last known to be living in Denmark.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/dane-named-as-umbrella-killer-7s59qcww8pn |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080917183154/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article530164.ece |archive-date=17 September 2008 |newspaper=Sunday Times|via=[[Times Online]] |location=UK |first1=Jack |last1=Hamilton |first2=Tom |last2=Walker |title=Dane named as umbrella killer|date=5 June 2005}}</ref> A British documentary, ''The Umbrella Assassin'' (2006), interviewed people associated with the case in Bulgaria, Britain, Denmark and America, and revealed that Gullino was alive and well, and still travelling freely throughout Europe.  There were reports in June 2008 that Scotland Yard had renewed its interest in the case. Detectives were sent to Bulgaria and requests were made to interview relevant individuals.<ref name=casereopenedinduk>{{Cite news |last=Brown |first=Jonathan |title=Poison umbrella murder case is reopened |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |location=UK |date=20 June 2008 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/poison-umbrella-murder-case-is-reopened-851022.html |access-date=20 November 2009}}</ref> Gullino died in Austria in August 2021.<ref name=gullinodead>{{Cite news |last=Pachner |first=Jurgen |title=Notorious agent (75) was dead in Welser apartment |newspaper=[[Kronin Zeitung]] |location=[[Germany]] |date=17 August 2021 |url=https://www.krone.at/2486314 |access-date=15 January 2021}}</ref>

=== In culture ===
Markov's assassination is mentioned in John D. MacDonald's 1979 novel ''[[The Green Ripper]]'' when a character is murdered.

The incident is the subject of the song "Wet Job" by [[Fingerprintz]] from their 1979 album ''The Very Dab''.

The idea of a poison-injecting umbrella was used in the Hindi film [[Raazi]] and the French comedy ''[[The Umbrella Coup]]'' (O.T. "Le coup du parapluie").

Markov's assassination is mentioned in season two, episode seven of ''[[CSI: Crime Scene Investigation]]'', by a character as he describes people poisoned with ricin to Gil Grissom.

The Markov assassination is the subject of a test in the first season of the show [[MythBusters|Mythbusters]]. [[Adam Savage]] and [[Jamie Hyneman]] test if the assassination could be feasible using an umbrella gun. After testing the duo confirm that an umbrella gun could be used in an assassination in this way.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-04-23 |title=MythBusters 2003 Episode Guide {{!}} MythBusters {{!}} Discovery |url=http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/2003-episodes/ |access-date=2025-01-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190423092607/http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/2003-episodes/ |archive-date=23 April 2019 }}</ref>

Markov's assassination is also mentioned in the [[neo-Western]] crime drama series ''[[Breaking Bad]]'', season two, episode one, "[[Seven Thirty-Seven]]" as [[Walter White (Breaking Bad)|Walter]] and [[Jesse Pinkman|Jesse]] think of plans to kill [[Tuco Salamanca]].  

In August 2018 the case was the subject of the [[BBC Radio 4]] programme ''[[The Reunion (radio series)|The Reunion]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bgblcd|title=BBC Radio 4 – The Reunion, The Murder of Georgi Markov|publisher=BBC|access-date=7 June 2019}}</ref>

Markov's assassination is used as the basis for an assassination story in the US drama series ''[[NCIS (TV series)|NCIS]]'', season seven, episode twenty-one, "[[Obsession (NCIS)|Obsession]]". The character, Lt Hutton, is working on a classified program at the Naval Info-Ops Centre (NIOC) and is discovered to have been murdered using the same method as Markov, leading to a Soviet KGB plotline.

The assassination served as inspiration for a similar poisoning by KGB agents utilising an umbrella, in the [[historical drama|period]] [[spy fiction|spy drama]] [[The Americans]], in the second episode of the first season, [[The Clock (The Americans)|The Clock]]. 

Markov's assassination is also mentioned in season two, episode one from ''[[Slow Horses]]'', where River Cartwright and Shirley Dander point to the possibility of the same technique being used to murder a former MI6 agent, who was following a former KGB agent, possibly "Cicada". Then River finds out that some poison was inserted into the arm, through a similar but different method.

A replica of the umbrella used to assassinate Markov is on display at the [[International Spy Museum]] in Washington, DC., US<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bulgarian Umbrella (replica) |url=https://www.spymuseum.org/exhibition-experiences/about-the-collection/collection-highlights/bulgarian-umbrella-replica/ |access-date=2023-03-24 |website=International Spy Museum |language=en}}</ref>

''[[Time Shelter]]'', the [[International Booker Prize]] 2023 by [[Georgi Gospodinov]], (translated by Angela Rodel), mentions Markov's assassination.

A fictional Bulgarian spy chief central to the plot of the first episode of the second season of [[The_Sandbaggers|The Sandbaggers]] , Vladimir Galabov, is "...almost certainly behind the umbrella murder in London September '78..."

=== Similar attacks ===
On 11 May 2012, a German man died almost a year after having been stabbed with an umbrella in the city of [[Hanover]]. German police – who noted a resemblance to the Markov case – analyzed the syringe which the victim had managed to take from the perpetrator, and found [[dimethylmercury]];<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-08-25 |title=Namen genannt! Wird der Regenschirm-Mord an Familienvater Christoph (†40) endlich gelöst? |url=https://www.tag24.de/unterhaltung/tv/aktenzeichen-xy/namen-genannt-wird-der-regenschirm-mord-an-familienvater-christoph-40-endlich-geloest-2592039 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220825122815/https://www.tag24.de/unterhaltung/tv/aktenzeichen-xy/namen-genannt-wird-der-regenschirm-mord-an-familienvater-christoph-40-endlich-geloest-2592039 |archive-date=2022-08-25 |access-date=2022-08-30 |website=TAG24 |language=de}}</ref> the reported cause of death was [[mercury poisoning]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Albers |first1=Anne |last2=Gies |first2=Ursula |last3=Raatschen |first3=Hans-Jurgen |last4=Klintschar |first4=Michael |date=2020-09-01 |title=Another umbrella murder? – A rare case of Minamata disease |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-020-00247-y |journal=Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology |language=en |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=504–509 |doi=10.1007/s12024-020-00247-y |issn=1556-2891 |pmc=7449996 |pmid=32323188}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thelocal.de/20120511/42495/ |title=Umbrella stab victim dies of mercury poisoning |language=en |date=11 May 2012 |website=www.thelocal.de |access-date=13 June 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/quecksilbervergiftung-mann-stirbt-nach-angrif-mit-spritze-in-hannover-a-832677.html |title=Quecksilbervergiftung |trans-title=Mercury poisoning |magazine=[[Der Spiegel]] |language=de |date=11 May 2012 |access-date=3 September 2020}}</ref>

In 2016, police in [[Chennai]], India solved three separate murders when the four killers confessed to having used an umbrella tipped with a [[potassium cyanide]]-filled syringe. They had ridden past the victims on a bike and jabbed them in the thigh.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |last2= |last3= |first3= |date=2016-04-28 |title=How cops found, arrested an 'umbrella murderer' |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/how-cops-found-arrested-an-umbrella-murderer/articleshow/52017965.cms |access-date=2022-08-24 |website=The Times of India |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Narayanan |first=Vivek |date=2016-05-08 |title=Syringe murders: Three bodies to be exhumed |language=en-IN |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/syringe-murders-three-bodies-to-be-exhumed/article8574928.ece |access-date=2022-08-25 |issn=0971-751X}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{portal|Biography|Bulgaria|London}}
* [[List of Eastern Bloc defectors]]
* [[List of unsolved murders in the United Kingdom]]
* [[Incidents involving ricin]]
* [[Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko]]
* [[Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal|Salisbury poisoning]]
* [[List of journalists killed in Europe]]
* [[The Executioner (Kisyov novel)|''The Executioner'' (Kisyov novel)]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
*{{cite book |last= Markov |first= Georgi |author2=David Phillips  |title= Right Honourable Chimpanzee |year= 1978 |publisher= [[Secker & Warburg]] |isbn= 978-0-436-48310-3 }}
*{{cite book |last= Markov |first= Georgi |title= The Truth That Killed  |translator= Brisby, Liliana |translator-link = Liliana Brisby |url= https://archive.org/details/truththatkilled0000mark |url-access = registration |year= 1984 |place= New York |publisher= Ticknor & Fields |isbn= 978-0-89919-296-3 |via = [[Internet Archive]]}}
*{{cite book |last= Emsley |author-link= John Emsley|first= John |title= Molecules of Murder |url=https://archive.org/details/moleculesofmurde0000emsl/page/n5/mode/2up |url-access= registration|year= 2008 |publisher= Royal Society of Chemistry |isbn= 978-0-85404-965-3 |via= [[Internet Archive]] }}
*{{cite book |last= Volodarsky |first= Boris |title= The KGB's Poison Factory: From Lenin to Litvinenko |year= 2009 |publisher= Frontline Books |isbn= 978-1-84832-542-5 }}
*{{cite book|last1=Gregg|first1=Stefanie|title=Und der Duft nach Weiß|date=8 June 2015|publisher=Forever|isbn=978-3958180451|language=de}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.theguardian.com/international/story/0,,1499899,00.html Markov's umbrella assassin revealed. After 26 years, police hope to bring killer to justice] by Nick Paton Walsh. 6 June 2005. (The Guardian)
* WNET (PBS) [https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/case_umbrella/index.html "Secrets of the Dead"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130524111058/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/case_umbrella/index.html/ |date=24 May 2013 }} on investigation of the assassination.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061013001331/http://www.portfolio.mvm.ed.ac.uk/studentwebs/session2/group12/georgie.htm Georgi Markov "The Umbrella Assassination"  mvm.ed.ac.uk]
*{{cite journal |author= Buckley, William F.  |author-link= William F. Buckley |title= A Victim of Bulgaria Book Review: THE TRUTH THAT KILLED By Georgi Markov. Translated by Liliana Brisby. With an introduction by Annabel Markov. 280 pp. New York: Ticknor & Fields. $15.95 |journal= The New York Times |date = May 8, 1984 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/08/books/a-victim-of-bulgaria.html |accessdate= 10 January 2025}}
*[http://www.ceeol.com/aspx/getdocument.aspx?logid=5&id=b5fe4b8f-a352-40fc-8426-0f540a346b75.pdf "The Poison Umbrella"] Yveta Kenety, in: The New Presence 4/2006, S. 46–48
*{{Find a Grave |id= 28413880 }}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname= Georgi Markov}}
{{Authority control}}

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