In April, then-Bulgarian Inside Minister Kalin Stoyanov filed defamation lawsuits in opposition to two investigative journalists, Atanas Chobanov and Dimitar Stoyanov, whose reporting had linked Stoyanov to a broader corruption case. This was simply the most recent illustration of a worrisome pattern in Bulgaria: the rising use of so-called SLAPPs, or strategic lawsuits in opposition to public participation, to intimidate and crack down on essential voices like journalists, with the intention of silencing them or shutting down respectable investigations.
The rising use of SLAPPs, usually by non-public actors however in lots of cases by political figures, additionally highlights how political intimidation has led to a fraught media setting in Bulgaria that struggles to take care of its position as a watchdog over governmental powers, threatening the nation’s capacity to deal with its myriad challenges.
The issue of declining press freedoms started in earnest below former Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, who headed the federal government for the majority of the interval between 2009 and 2021. His time in workplace was marked by deep-seated corruption, with oligarchic mafia leaders infiltrating the state equipment at each degree, together with the judiciary, media and safety providers. Throughout these years, Transparency Worldwide, a worldwide watchdog on governance, constantly ranked Bulgaria as probably the most corrupt state within the European Union.
