site.btaUPDATED Long-Serving MP, Writer Luben Dilov Jr. Passes Away

Writer and GERB-UDF MP Luben Dilov Jr. passed away, which transpired after GERB Chair Boyko Borissov expressed his condolences in a Facebook post published on Tuesday.

Borissov wrote that he lost a friend, a remarkable personality, a talented writer, and a man with an exceptional sense of humour and strong civic convictions. The party chair extended his deepest sympathies to Dilov’s family, relatives, friends, and all those who respected and loved him. Borissov reported that Luben Dilov Jr. passed away in hospital earlier on Tuesday.

Dilov served as a member of Bulgaria’s 40th, 45th, 46th, 47th, 48th, 49th, 50th, 51st, and current 52nd National Assembly, combining a long parliamentary career with his work as a writer and public figure.

In a letter quoted by the presidential press secretariat, President Iliana Iotova wrote: "In every role he played – as a writer, journalist, screenwriter, public figure, and politician – Luben Dilov Jr. sought the truth, stood by his convictions, asked the tough questions, raised the pressing issues, searched for meaning beyond the obvious, and knew how to provoke."

In a Facebook post, Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov wrote: "May God rest Luben Dilov’s soul. We had many differences with him as a politician and often disagreed, but I held him in the highest regard as a writer and artist – one of the legends of modern Bulgaria! Lubo has now joined the pantheon of the immortal!"

Other public figures who expressed their condolences include singer and party leader Slavi Trifonov, journalist Martin Karbovski, writer Nidal Algafari, producer Viktor Dimchev, media expert Lubomir Stoykov, journalist and writer Kalina Paskaleva, animator Theodore Ushev.