site.btaUrgent Freedom of Speech Protection Network Says Lawsuits against Journalists Are Attempt to Intimidate Them

Urgent Freedom of Speech Protection Network Says Lawsuits against Journalists Are
Attempt to Intimidate Them


Sofia, September 24 (BTA) - The network for urgent protection of
freedom of speech says lawsuits against journalists are an
attempt to intimidate them. At a BTA-hosted news conference on
Wednesday, Yuliana Metodieva declared that the fines they
involve are enormous and far beyond journalists' means, which is
why their only aim is to restrict the freedom of speech.

Metodieva, a familiar representative of the Bulgarian Helsinki
Committee, recently established "Marginalia", a website for
comments, analyses and news in the field of human rights. She
explained that the cases which the network is supporting - those
of journalists Ivan Bakalov of the e-vestnik.bg e-zine and Asen
Yordanov of the investigating journalism site "Bivol" - concern
investigating journalistic work which operates with facts and
evidence. In both cases, she said, the claims are
disproportionately large, which Metodieva thinks is an attempt
to intimidate the guild as a whole.

Bulgarian banker Petya Slavova, said to be the richest woman in
Bulgaria and majority shareholder of Investbank, has filed a
lawsuit against e-vestnik and Ivan Bakalov.

The claim was filed in connection with a series of publications
by Ivan Bakalov since April 2011, under the title "Kleptocracy",
in which he claimed money was disappearing from Investbank
clients' accounts. Slavova is asking for 100,000 leva
compensation.

The wife of Party of European Socialists leader Sergei
Stanishev, Monika, is suing Yordanov for 56,000 leva in
connection with a European project about which "Bivol" sounded
the alarm. The publication led to a European debate on the issue
whether there was - or was not a conflict of interest - in the
case where a company of the PES leader's wife applied for and
received funding precisely from the European Parliament's
communication unit.

Bakalov was adamant his publications step on evidence and
witnesses.

Another journalist, Ivan Bedrov, also defended the role of
investigating journalists, confirming the thesis that the final
outcome of the hefty claims is no more investigating journalism.

According to the network, there are two ways to defend the
guild: to shout out loudly that people who consider themselves
untouchable cannot try to encroach on freedom and the right of
the public to receive reliable information, and to create a pro
bono team for legal aid to take of such cases quickly.