In April, then-Bulgarian Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov filed defamation lawsuits against two investigative journalists, Atanas Chobanov and Dimitar Stoyanov, whose reporting had linked Stoyanov to a broader corruption case. This was just the latest illustration of a worrisome trend in Bulgaria: the rising use of so-called SLAPPs, or strategic lawsuits against public participation, to intimidate and crack down on critical voices like journalists, with the aim of silencing them or shutting down legitimate investigations.
The growing use of SLAPPs, often by private actors but in many instances by political figures, also highlights how political intimidation has led to a fraught media environment in Bulgaria that struggles to maintain its role as a watchdog over governmental powers, threatening the country’s ability to address its myriad challenges.
The problem of declining press freedoms began in earnest under former Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, who headed the government for the bulk of the period between 2009 and 2021. His time in office was marked by deep-seated corruption, with oligarchic mafia leaders infiltrating the state apparatus at every level, including the judiciary, media and security services. During those years, Transparency International, a global watchdog on governance, consistently ranked Bulgaria as the most corrupt state in the European Union.