Vasil Petleshkov Monument

Vasil Angelov Petleskov was a Bulgarian rebel who led the Bratsigovo April Uprising.

On January 1, 1845, he was born in Bratsigovo, then part of the Ottoman Empire. His father, Nayden Velchev, is from the hamlet of Oresz, and his family is from Kastoria. Vasil’s father died when he was four or five years old, and his mother, Ekaterina, remarried the longstanding mayor of Bratsigovo, Angel Petleskov (about 1810 – 1882), who was from the neighboring hamlet of Sliemnitsa. He is married to Elena Boyanina, the daughter of famed master builder Ivan Boyanin, who is also a descendant of the Perch Bulgarians.  He grew raised in Bratsigovo, worked as a pharmacist, participated in commerce, and was an active participant in the city’s civic life. Petleskov graduated from the “100 days” pharmacy studies in Istanbul in 1873. In 1874, he oversaw the establishment of the “Trandafil” Community Center, of which he was chairman.

In early 1876, he was chosen head of the local Revolutionary Committee, which Georgi Benkovski had created. Petleschkov was in Panagyurishte during the start of the April Rebellion, but he quickly went to Bratsigovo to organize the uprising there and in the nearby villages.

Following the collapse of the revolt, local chorbadzhi turned up Petleskov to the Turks. He was mercilessly tortured, questioned, and roasted between three flames before dying on the outskirts of Bratsigovo on his route to Plovdiv for questioning.