Pavel Mihaylov Chernev ( bg, Павел Михайлов Чернев) (10 July 1969 – 19 March 2016) was a Bulgarian politician and lawyer. He was also one of the MPs who opposed the

Independence of Kosovo The 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence, which proclaimed the Republic of Kosovo to be a state independent from Serbia, was adopted at a meeting held on 17 February 2008 by 109 out of the 120 members of the Assembly of Kosovo, including the P ...

Biography

Born in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

, Chernev graduated from the juridical faculty of

Sofia University Sofia University, "St. Kliment Ohridski" at the University of Sofia, ( bg, Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“, ''Sofijski universitet „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“'') is the oldest higher education i ...

and was a practicing attorney. In his younger years, he focused on a number of sports such as

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

and

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

, which also taking up security-related jobs. In the summer of 1990, Chernev was a participant in the student pro-democracy protests and occupations. Chernev was formerly a member of the Attack and was widely regarded as

Volen Siderov Volen Nikolov Siderov ( bg, Волен Николов Сидеров ; born 19 April 1956) is a Bulgarian Far-right politics, far-right politician and chairman of the nationalist party Attack (political party), Attack. He has been the editor of ...

's right-hand man. During his time with Ataka, Chernev was among the members who played a role in steering the party away from radical nationalists and activists with admiration for

Neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

ideas. Chernev parted ways with the party in 2006 following the development of a conflict of interest with the party leader in the aftermath of his and Siderov's controversial involvement in a traffic dispute with another driver. He took part in the October 2007

municipal elections and finished in 10th place out of 41 candidates. In 2010, Chernev appeared in the Bulgarian comedy film

Mission London ''Mission London'' is a 2010 comedy film directed by Dimitar Mitovski and starring Alan Ford, Lee Nicholas Harris and Ralph Brown. Plot A concert to celebrate Bulgaria joining the EU is planned at the Embassy in London. Varadin, the new ambassad ...

together with

Yulian Vergov Julian Emilianov Vergov ( bg, Юлиан Емилиянов Вергов; born 15 July 1970) is a Bulgarian actor. He is best known for starring in the drama series ''Glass Home'' (2010–2012), and the medical drama '' Stolen Life'' (2017–201 ...

, a childhood friend. In his capacity as an actor, he is usually

typecast In film, television, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character, one or more particular roles, or characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ...

in tough guy or villainous roles. In

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, he was a candidate to become

President of Bulgaria The president of the Republic of Bulgaria is the head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or ...

as a member of the Party for the People of the Nation (Bulgarian: Партия за Хората от Народа), receiving 0.24% of the votes cast. He was also the leader of the Bulgarian section of Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE), and held speeches at international

counter-jihad Counter-jihad, also spelled counterjihad and known as the counter-jihad movement, is a self-titled political current loosely consisting of authors, bloggers, think tanks, street movements and campaign organisations all linked by apocalyptic beli ...

conferences. In 2013, Chernev participated in the Bulgarian version of

VIP Brother ''VIP Brother'' is a Bulgarian reality television game show in which a number of celebrity contestants live in an isolated house trying to avoid being evicted by the public with the aim of winning a large cash prize or collecting money for char ...

. Chernev is opposed to the membership of Bulgaria in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

and has called for the holding of a referendum on the matter. His views have been characterized by political scientists such as Ognyan Minchev as uncompromisingly

pro-Russian Russophilia (literally love of Russia or Russians) is admiration and fondness of Russia (including the era of the Soviet Union and/or the Russian Empire), Russian history and Russian culture. The antonym is Russophobia. In the 19th Century, ...

. During the

2014 Crimean crisis In February and March 2014, Russia invaded and subsequently annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. This event took place in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity and is part of the wider Russo-Ukrainian War. The Revolution of Dign ...

, Chernev was one of the Orthodox Dawn ( bg, Православна Зора, ''Pravoslavna Zora'') members who helped recruit and organize a small number of Bulgarian volunteers who travelled to

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

in order to support the Russian operations. He also served as an election observer for the 2014 referendum in Crimea. In August 2014, Chernev was admitted as a member of the newly formed Patriotic Front, with his Freedom Party ( bg, партия "Свобода", ''partiya "Svoboda"'') also becoming part of the electoral alliance. However, the Freedom Party withdrew its support for the Patriotic Front in May 2015. On the 19 March 2016, Pavel died after a pulmonary embolism in Sofia, Bulgaria.

References

1969 births 2016 deaths Attack (political party) politicians Members of the National Assembly (Bulgaria) Bulgarian nationalists Counter-jihad activists 20th-century Bulgarian lawyers Deaths from pulmonary embolism Politicians from Sofia Sofia University alumni Big Brother (Bulgarian TV series) contestants 21st-century Bulgarian lawyers {{Bulgaria-bio-stub