Bulgarian Police Asked to Tackle Threat against Journalist

Investigative Bulgarian journalist, Hristo Hristov, whose work focuses on the secret file of the former Communist State Security. Photo by BGNES

Over a dozen of prominent Bulgarian public figures are calling on the police to find those behind the recently issued death threat against investigative journalist, Hristo Hristov.

They held a special press conference Tuesday to inform they will be unwavering in their request and that they have already sent an open letter to the Main Directorate for Combatting Organized Crime, GDBOP, the Prosecutor's Office, caretaker Prime Minister, Marin Raykov, caretaker Interior Minister, Petya Parvanova, Chief Prosecutor, Sotir Tsatsarov, and interim GDBOP Chief, Valentin Trifonov.

The letter points out that the journalist has submitted evidence on April 15, and has not heard anything from the authorities since then.

"The journalist and his family have been threatened with murder. This is not the first time, but this time the threats seem very real and persistent. The attack on him is an attack on the right of all Bulgarians to be informed," the letter reads.

Those who have signed it, remind that despite a number of attacks, intimidations, and threats against Bulgarian journalists, none of them have been solved.

Last week, Hristov, whose work focuses on the secret files of the former Communist State Security, DS, informed on his own site desebg.com that he found the anonymous death threat note in his mailbox at home. It has been written on the margin of a copy of his 2011 interview titled "The Indifference to Our Recent Past Is Detrimental."

Hristov has sent all evidence to the police with a copy to the caretaker Interior Minister.

The site desebg.com is the outlet where he publishes his findings.

The journalist writes he has decided to make the case public as threats against him have escalated in recent months and have now been directed towards his family as well.

"I find it unacceptable in the 21st century in an EU Member State to use DS methods to scare journalists. Such threats are a blatant violation of freedom of speech," he says.

Since the beginning of 2013, this was the third attempt to intimidate Hristov. His site became the target of a hacker attack right around New Year's Eve, while his family car has been intentionally damaged in March.

In the summer of 2006, the journalist received a threat he would be blasted with explosives if he did not stop his media publications.

In addition to the Communist State Security files, in 1999 – 2000 he worked on an investigation and a book dedicated to the DS murder of Bulgarian dissident writer Georgi Markov. During that period his home has been burglarized three times. 

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