The Cold War Mystery: 'The Case of the Bulgarian Umbrella'












            ******************************************************************************************

            * The Cold War Mystery: 'The Case of the Bulgarian Umbrella'
            ******************************************************************************************
            On a typically-British, grey September morning in 1978, Bulgarian Cold War defector Georgi

            poisoned in a mysterious attack which would eventually claim his life. On March 24th 2015 
            of Law [ URL "http://www.prf.cuni.cz/en/"] of Charles University, Markov's presiding physi
            Riley explored the details behind the assassination of the well-known Bulgarian dissident 

            Dr. Riley, a medical expert with a background in intensive care medicine, was a junior doc
            St. James Hospital during that September weekend. Relatively early in his 72-hour shift, D
            called to the emergency room at 8.30 p.m. to attend to a Bulgarian employee of the BBC Wor

            suffering from a high pulse rate and high blood pressure, nausea and vomiting. The patient
            Georgi Markov, who uttered a chilling phrase: 'I have been poisoned by the KGB and I am go

            In the present day, Dr. Riley paused to talk the audience through a timeline of events lea
            point. On September 7th 1978 Georgi Markov felt a small sharp pain in the back of his leg 
            for a bus in London. Thinking he had perhaps been accidentally hit with another commuter's

            turned in time to see a man leap into a taxi which then sped off. After suffering from fev
            for the remainder of the day, on September 8th Markov then encountered Dr. Riley at the ho
            that night, troubled by Markov's claims of KGB poisoning, Dr. Riley phoned Scotland Yard w

            they would contact him again soon. Meanwhile over the next day, Dr. Riley continued invest
            case from a medical perspective. Markov's leg did indeed bear a tiny puncture wound, howev
            no further evidence of an attack other than a barely-visible speck on his x-ray. The docto

            narrow down the list of possible poisons in an attempt to solve the mystery as Markov's sy
            worsened.
            Interest increased over the September weekend in Markov's deteriorating condition: Scotlan

            CID and local police all became involved in the case while the hospital Consultant and a g
            Registrars arrived to support Dr. Riley in his treatment of the patient. However, it was a
            Georgi Markov suffered a fatal cardiac arrest on Monday 11th September. The independent HM

            contacted to investigate Markov's death and uncover the true cause. The investigation led 
            conclusion – Markov had indeed been poisoned by a tiny bullet (1.53mm in diameter) contain
            potent poison Ricin. The bullet was sealed by a small amount of gelatin which would dissol

            into the target's bloodstream, releasing the poison and in effect causing an irreversible 
            symptoms. Georgi Markov was indeed assassinated by someone who could only have been employ
            and resourceful enemy – an enemy believed by Dr. Riley and many others to be the KGB.

            Dr. Riley concluded his presentation by speculating as to the motive behind this and other
            He theorised that Eastern Bloc leaders were tormented by the dissident writings of Markov 
            as Vladimir Kostov, a Bulgarian who survived a similar attack only months previously, and 

            them killed. 'Times have not changed,' concluded Dr. Riley. 'State-funded assassinations s
            Riley himself was troubled by the series of events leading to Markov's death and deviated 
            career in pathology, instead dedicating his medical work to intensive care in an attempt t

            of his patients as he and a number of other physicians were unable to do in the mysterious
            Umbrella' murder.