Pavel Mihaylov Chernev () (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 Kosovo, Republic of Kosovo to be an independent and sovereign state, was adopted at a meeting held on 17 February 2008 by 109 out of the 120 members of the Assembly of Kosovo, in ...

Biography

Born in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

, Chernev graduated from the juridical faculty of

Sofia University Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" () is a public university, public research university in Sofia, Bulgaria. It is the oldest institution of higher education in Bulgaria. Founded on 1 October 1888, the edifice of the university was constr ...

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

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

and

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

, 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 ( ; 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 numerous newspapers and has authored five boo ...

'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 together with Yulian Vergov, 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 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, he was a candidate to become

President of Bulgaria The president of the Republic of Bulgaria (, romanised: ''Prezident na Republika Bŭlgariya'') is the head of state of Bulgaria and the commander-in-chief of the Bulgarian Army. The official residence of the president is at Boyana Residence, S ...

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 known as the counter-jihad movement) is a self-titled Islamophobia, anti-Muslim political movement loosely consisting of authors, bloggers, think tanks, demonstrators, and other activists across the Western world. Proponents are ...

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 cha ...

. Chernev is opposed to the membership of Bulgaria in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

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 is the identification or solidarity with, appreciation of, or support for the Russia, country, Russians, people, Russian language, language, and history of Russia. One who espouses Russophilia is called a russophile. Its Opposite ...

. During the

annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation In February and March 2014, Russia invaded the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula, part of Ukraine, and then annexed it. This took place in the relative power vacuum immediately following the Revolution of Dignity. It marked the beginning of the Russ ...

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

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

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 (, ''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