Bulgaria: Press freedom groups demand safety of journalist Dimitar Stoyanov is guaranteed following alleged threats

Stoyanov is an investigative journalist covering crime and corruption at the Bureau for Investigative Reporting and Data (BIRD) and has long faced legal and safety threats because of his investigations. BIRD is an independent investigative outlet which is known for cross-border collaboration, including partnerships with OCCRP and ICIJ.

In May 2026 it was first reported that Burgas District Prosecutor’s Office had been alerted about planned hostile actions against Stoyanov allegedly being coordinated by a Bulgarian businessperson who the journalist had reported on.

According to BIRD, the prosecutor’s office received a warning submitted by a former associate of the businessperson alerting that he had allegedly sought to arrange for Stoyanov to be attacked in retaliation for his reporting.

At the time, the Burgas District Prosecutor’s Office clarified that according to the information it had received the case did not involve an assassination attempt but so-called “sharp actions”, and confirmed the case had been forwarded to the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office.

On 17 June, BIRD then published testimony from a second witness who alleged that the same individual had attempted to recruit him to assault Stoyanov. According to the media outlet, the witness, a former employee and security guard, said that during a meeting in January 2026 Filipov allegedly offered him a job and requested that he hit the journalist in the head with a metal bat and “break his skull”.

According to the reporting, the witness said he did not agree to carry out the attack and later refused the request. The witness further claimed that after refusing, he began receiving threats from a person allegedly working as the businessperson’s bodyguard. The witness said he filed a report with the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office because he did not trust local authorities in Burgas to investigate the allegations impartially.

In addition to the two separate reports of planned attacks, the journalist is facing several lawsuits. Press freedom groups have argued that many of these lawsuits display characteristics of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs). Earlier in 2026, a court ordered the freezing of approximately €25,000 in Stoyanov’s bank accounts as security measures in connection with these ongoing legal proceedings.

So far, no concrete law enforcement action has been taken in response to the two separate and credible allegations of violence being commissioned against Stoyanov. The most recent public information suggests the case has entered a repeated pattern of overlapping investigations and institutional referrals without visible urgency.

On 18 June, the acting chief secretary of the Interior Ministry, Chief Commissioner Lyubomir Nikolov, ordered the Burgas Regional Police Directorate to urgently report whether any alerts about threats against the journalist had been received and what had been done. Separately, a prosecutorial check has reportedly been assigned to the General Directorate National Police. This bureaucratic loop is alarming and raises serious questions about whether the new government is treating threats against journalists as a matter of public safety in a country ranked 71st out of 180 in the RSF 2026 World Press Freedom Index.

The undersigned press freedom groups therefore call on the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office to urgently provide public information about the status of any ongoing criminal investigation into alleged threats of violence against the investigative journalist, in coordination with the Burgas District Prosecutor’s Office.

So far no police protection has been offered to the journalist. Local and national police authorities should therefore offer measures – in coordination with the journalist and his media outlet – to guarantee that the journalist has sufficient safety measures in place.

Our organisations additionally call on the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Interior to closely monitor these ongoing proceedings and ensure that the safety of journalists is treated with the utmost importance, in line with the Recommendation on Safety of Journalists published by the European Commission in 2021. According to Recital 14 of the European Media Freedom Act, access to media services should be supported also by “preventing attempts to silence journalists” including with threats.

A threat against a journalist carrying out public interest journalism represents a direct threat against media freedom.Our groups will closely monitor the response of Bulgarian authorities.

Signed:

International Press Institute (IPI)

European Center for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)

European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)

Free Press Unlimited (FPU)

Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT)

Reporters Without Borders (RSF)

This content is part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response  (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries. The project is co-funded by the European Commission.