Revolutionary Nikola Zhekov

Nikola Kostov Zhekov, also known as Zhekoolu, was a Bulgarian revolutionary and voivode of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation (IMARO). Born in 1880 in Stara Zagora, he came from a family of national revolutionaries; his cousins, who were brothers, participated in the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.

After graduating from the Samokov Metalworking School in 1897, Zhekov joined the Trayko Kitanchev Secret Revolutionary Circle. He served in the detachments of Mihail Apostolov-Popeto and Hristo Chernopeev, and in the spring of 1902 was appointed district voivode for Radovish.

During the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising in 1903, Zhekov led his detachment in the fighting in Macedonia. Despite the difficulties and the suppression of the uprising, he remained active in the revolutionary struggle.

In 1912, during the First Balkan War, Zhekov was voivode of Partisan Detachment No. 40 of the Macedonian-Adrianople Volunteer Corps, which operated in the Petrich district. He then volunteered for the non-combatant company of the corps' 6th Ohrid Battalion.

After the war he married and returned to live in Bulgaria, first in Stara Zagora and then, in late 1922, in Sofia. In 1948, together with two like-minded associates, he founded the Internal Bulgarian Revolutionary Organisation, for which he was arrested and sentenced to strict life imprisonment.

On 7 March 1949 Nikola Kostov Zhekov died in Sliven Prison. In 1991 he and his associates were declared innocent and acquitted.