Velichko Velev was born on March 18, 1933 in Boyana, Sofia. His father’s restaurant was expropriated at the onset of communism, along with all the family’s property and assets. His father narrowly escaped execution, and the family lived in a tent in their own yard. As a student, Velichko actively supported the Goryani movement, an armed resistance movement against the communist regime, and organized armed student resistance groups. Velichko was arrested in April 1951 and over the course of six months he was subjected to systemic beatings, starvation and torture. In very poor physical condition, he was sent to the Belene labor camp without a sentence. Velichko was interned in Belene from October 1951 until September 1953.

Zheko Stoyanov is a political prisoner, a member of the opposition, and a politician. He was born on May 4, 1939, in the village of Lyulin near Yambol. In 1961, when he was a student, he was arrested and sentenced to death because of resistance to the communist authorities. Subsequently, his sentence was changed to lengthy imprisonment.

In 1964, along with other political prisoners, Zheko Stoyanov received an amnesty and was released from the Stara Zagora prison. In order to earn his living, he did hard manual labor, working as a porter, a painter on construction sites, and a miner. For twenty-two years he worked in underground mines.

After the democratic transition of 1989, Zheko Stoyanov entered politics and in 1997 he was elected a member of parliament for the United Democratic Forces. At the age of sixty, he completed a degree in economics.

During his whole life, Zheko Stoyanov has remained a symbol of resistance against the repressive regime and of an unyielding spirit of freedom.