Georgi Markov

Poisoned on 7 September 1978 on Waterloo Bridge in London by a ricin-filled pellet fired from an umbrella; the Bulgarian defector writer died four days later, his murder unsolved in court.

Overview

Markov, a Bulgarian writer and broadcaster whose critical essays on Radio Free Europe and the BBC infuriated the Zhivkov regime, felt a sting on his thigh while waiting for a bus; a small platinum pellet of ricin, confirmed by unique markers and experiments on a pig, was found in the wound. He died of ricin poisoning; the umbrella mechanism was never recovered, though a similar pellet survived an attempted killing of the dissident Vladimir Kostov in Paris the previous month. Bulgarian defectors and later archives named the services and the codename of the operation, and a 2021 Bulgarian investigation closed without prosecutions. The umbrella murder fixed in the public mind the cold war image of the secret service assassination and made ricin a household name of chemical weapons.