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Grigor Stoichkov, former chairman of Bulgaria’s Governmental Commission
on the Management of Natural Disasters and Large-Scale Accidents, has admitted
in court that he only became familiar with the terms ‘radiation’ and ‘becquerel’
after the Chernobyl disaster.

Stoichkov, on trial for failing to protect the health of the Bulgarian
population after the accident, told the court that these words did not occur
in the regulations for his commission.

Stoichkov, and his co-defendant, Lyubomir Shindarov, former First Deputy
Minister of Health, deny that there was any information blackout after the
radioactive plume reached Bulgaria on 30 April 1986. They claim the problem
was just ‘unpreparedness and lack of experience’. They further deny that
there was any real danger.