Editorial Note
Michael (Mikhail) Shipkov was the senior Bulgarian employee of the Legation in Sofia. Shipkov was arrested and brutally interrogated by the Bulgarian security police in August 1949. Following his release Shipkov was concealed in the Legation. Throughout the remainder of the year, the Legation renewed and intensified its efforts, begun earlier, to secure from the Bulgarian Government permission for Shipkov to leave Bulgaria. For reports on the Shipkov case in 1949, see Foreign Relations, 1949, volume V, pages 326 ff. Shipkov eventually left the Legation early in 1950, and he was apparently captured by the Bulgarian police on February 14 while attempting to flee the country. The Legation’s last formal communication to the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry on the Shipkov case is printed supra. On February 21, the Sofia press published the text of an indictment charging Shipkov and four other Bulgarian citizens with espionage and other anti-State activities. One of the other accused was Jivka (Zohivka?) Rindova, a former employee of the American Legation who had been arrested in November 1949 (see telegram 102, January 25, from Sofia, page 508). The indictment, which described all the accused as agents of American intelligence, implicated 16 former and current members of the American Legation, including Minister Heath. The text of the indictment was transmitted to the Department of State in telegram 261, February 21, from Sofia, not printed (611.69/2–2150). For Minister Heath’s reports on the announcement of the Shipkov indictment and its significance, see telegrams 260 and 266, February 21, from Sofia, pages 521 and 522.
In a statement issued to the press on February 21, the Department of State reviewed the principal features of the Shipkov case from the [Page 518] time of his arrest and interrogation in August 1949 until his departure from the protection of the Legation at the beginning of 1950. For the text of the statement, see the Department of State Bulletin, March 13, 1950, page 396. On March 4, the Department of State issued to the press Shipkov’s sworn and signed affidavit describing in great detail the circumstances of his detention and interrogation by the Bulgarian security police in August 1949. The affidavit was accompanied by a Departmental statement briefly reviewing the principal episodes in the Shipkov case culminating in Shipkov’s arrest and indictment for treason. The Department’s statement reaffirmed that Shipkov was neither a spy nor an American intelligence agent but merely an employee of the Legation in Sofia who had performed routine, legitimate, and nonconfidential duties as a translator. For the text of Shipkov’s affidavit and the accompanying Department of State statement, see ibid., pages 387–396.
The trial of Shipkov and his four co-defendants was held in Sofia, March 6–8, 1950. Shipkov was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. On March 8, Secretary of State Acheson issued a statement to the press denouncing the Shipkov trial and the disregard for human rights and human values demonstrated by the Bulgarian regime. For the text of the statement, see ibid., March 20, 1950, page 441.