The Assassination of Georgi Markov

This week we are looking at famous cases of poisoning in history. We begin with the murder of Georgi Markov, who was killed by a small pellet of ricin aimed from an assassin’s weaponized umbrella.

Georgi Markov was a writer, and had dissented from the authoritarian government of his homeland in Bulgaria. Using his talent as an author, he wrote scathing critiques of the Bulgarian government from afar. In 1978, Markov was living in the UK and working for the BBC. 42 years ago on this date (September 7) he was waiting at his bus stop and suddenly felt a sharp but pointed stab on the back of his leg. When he looked around, he saw a man pick up an umbrella and hastily take off in a taxi.

The poison’s effects did not happen all at once – that evening Markov spiked a fever and soon after went to the hospital. But it took four long days for the ricin in his bloodstream to spread throughout his body.

Ricin comes from the castor “bean” — while it is the same plant part that goes into castor oil, the latter has all the ricin removed. The poison works by blocking infected cells’ ability to synthesize their own proteins, so they die. Vomiting, flu-like symptoms, and eventually organ failure result, and there is no known antidote. Markov had been shot with an amount of ricin measuring only a few granules of salt — they were encased in a pellet coated with a substance designed to melt at human body temperature. On September 11, Markov died. His case is often referred to as “the umbrella murder.”