The ‘Order’ of Vasil Levski as a model for the IMARO’s ‘penal legislation’ (1893 – 1912)

THE ‘ORDER’ OF VASIL LEVSKI AS A MODEL FOR THE IMARO’S ‘PENAL LEGISLATION’ (1893 – 1912) 

Elena Alexandrova 

(Summary) 

An important place among the programming documents of the Bulgarian national liberation movement before the Liberation is occupied by the Workers’ Order for the Liberation of the Bulgarian People, compiled by Vasil Levski. In this draft of a statute for the revolutionary organization were outlined the goals of the national liberation struggle; the ideology of the revolutionary movement were most vividly revealed, the tasks falling to the committee organizations, the commanders and the common participants in the movement were defined. It also contains some criminal provisions, so it also fulfils the role of a kind of a Penal Law, which largely defines the ‘criminal provisions’ in the programming documents of the IMARO. They were primarily intended for the personnel, but practice has shown that they also applied to the people dwelling in Macedonia and Adrianople Thrace. 

Keywords: Vasil Levski, IMARO, programming documents