Bulgaria / Europe & Central Asia

  
Police officers are seen in Sofia, Bulgaria, April 17, 2020. Police recently journalist Dimiter Petzov for alleged drug posession after searching his car. (Reuters/Stoyan Nenov)

Bulgarian investigative journalist arrested for drug possession days after filing information request

Berlin, May 21, 2020 — Bulgarian authorities should immediately drop all charges against journalist Dimiter Petzov and let him work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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A police car is seen in Sofia, Bulgaria, on July 16, 2019. Journalist Slavi Angelov was recently attacked in Sofia. (Reuters/Dimitar Kyosemarliev)

Journalist Slavi Angelov assaulted in Bulgaria

Berlin, March 18, 2020 — Bulgarian authorities should conduct a swift and thorough investigation into the assault of journalist Slavi Angelov and ensure his safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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A news kiosk in Sofia in May 2017. An investigative journalist from Bulgaria says he has been threatened and that at least two news outlets have attacked him over his reporting on an allegedly illegal water supply. (AFP/Nikolay Doychinov)

Bulgarian reporter Hristo Geshov says he was briefly abducted; news outlets attack him

The Bulgarian freelance investigative journalist Hristo Geshov said he received threats and at least two news outlets published articles attacking him and shared explicit videos and photos of him after he reported on an allegedly illegal water supply and sewage system at the Chiflika resort complex in Troyan, central Bulgaria. He also said that unknown…

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A news kiosk in downtown Sofia, in May 2017. When CPJ traveled to Bulgaria in April 2019 it found that despite being threatened for their work, Bulgaria's investigative journalists are undeterred. (AFP/Nikolay Doychinov)

Bulgaria’s press navigate harassment, threats in pursuit of stories

In October 2018, Viktoria Marinova, a host for TVN, was raped and murdered near the station’s studios. When CPJ’s Europe correspondent, Attila Mong, spoke with her colleagues and other journalists during a trip to Bulgaria last month, they said that while they don’t believe the attack is linked to Marinova’s work, it has highlighted the…

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Police officers are seen in Gorni Lom, Bulgaria, on October 2, 2014. Two journalists were recently injured by police amid protests in the country. (AFP/Nikolay Doychinov)

Journalists injured by police during protest in Bulgaria

On April 12, 2019, at least two journalists were injured while covering clashes between police and protesters in Gabrovo, a town in central Bulgaria, according to local media reports.

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A screen shot of Bulgarian TV host and administrative director Victoria Marinova speaking during her final broadcast on TVN Bulgaria on September 30, 2018. Marinova was found dead in the northern Bulgarian town of Ruse on October 6. (TVN Bulgaria)

Bulgarian TV host Viktoria Marinova raped and killed

Berlin, October 7, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Bulgarian authorities to conduct a rigorous, thorough investigation into the killing of Viktoria Marinova, presenter and administrative director for local television channel TVN. Marinova, 30, was found dead yesterday in the Bulgarian town of Ruse, 300 km (185 miles) northeast of the capital Sofia;…

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Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov stands by the EU flag at a conference in Sofia, in December 2017. Police in Bulgaria briefly detained two journalists investigating allegations of fraud involving EU funds. (Reuters/Stoyan Nenov)

Bulgarian police detain two investigative reporters

Bulgarian police on September 13, 2018 detained Attila Biro, editor of the Romanian investigative site Rise Project, and Dimitar Stoyanov, from Bivol, a Bulgarian investigative news website, according to reports. The investigative journalists were detained near Radomir, a town about 35 km west of the capital, Sofia, Bivol reported.

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Police patrol outside the National Palace of Culture during a ceremony starting Bulgaria's six-month presidency of the European Union in Sofia, Bulgaria, January 12, 2018. (Reuters/Stoyan Nenov)

Investigative reporter attacked in Bulgaria

Berlin, May 14, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Bulgarian authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into an attack on investigative journalist Hristo Geshov, who was beaten on May 10 outside his home in the northwestern town of Cherven Bryag, and guarantee his safety.

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Bulgarian journalist bludgeoned

Stoyan Tonchev, owner of the local news website Zad Kulisite (Behind the Scenes), was leaving a friend’s apartment in the Bulgarian Black Sea resort town of Pomorie at around 11 p.m. on January 14, 2015, when at least one man brutally beat him with a blunt object, according to local press reports.

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CPJ calls on Bulgaria’s prime minister to ensure safety of Bivol journalists

Dear Prime Minister Borissov: The Committee to Protect Journalists, an international press freedom organization, is writing to alert you to the harassment of journalists at the independent news website Bivol. In recent weeks a reporter has been followed and his home was broken into, and the website’s journalists have been warned they are at risk of retaliation for their reporting.

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