Bulgaria’s Zhivkov Under House Arrest, Will Face Charges

SOFIA, Bulgaria — Prosecutors put ousted hard-line leader Todor Zhivkov under house arrest Thursday to face charges of “gross malfeasance” and inciting ethnic hatred during his 23-year rule, state-run radio said.

The state prosecutor general’s office issued a warrant for the disgraced former Communist Party chief based on evidence gathered in a monthlong investigation by a legislative panel, the official BTA news agency said.

Zhivkov, who was ousted in November and replaced by a new Communist leadership that favors reforms, joins East Germany’s Erich Honecker and Czechoslovakia’s Milos Jakes as former Eastern European Communist leaders now under investigation for official misconduct.

“He (Zhivkov) is charged with incitement of ethnic hostility and hatred, with unwarranted receiving of excessive amounts of public property and with gross malfeasance,” BTA said.

The legislative panel began investigating alleged corruption and abuse of office by Zhivkov and his inner circle last month. Monday, the government announced that a separate committee was looking into reports Zhivkov had secreted large amounts of ill-gotten wealth in Swiss bank accounts.