Without serious evidence, the action of the Ministry of Internal Affairs against Dimitar Stoyanov looks like a club against free speech

It is still not clear what is happening with investigative journalist Dimitar Stoyanov, from Bird.bg, who was detained last night. According to initial information, he was arrested for 24 hours, but it is not clear when he will be released and whether his remand will be extended.

Journalist Dimitar Stoyanov was detained by the Ministry of Internal Affairs following a complaint by a NRA official. This is happening while the BIRD investigative journalism website is investigating how Minister Kalin Stoyanov’s son-in-law, NRA employee Georgi Shurelov, escaped from justice after being arrested for racketeering, BIRD’s Facebook page comments.

The scandal of the last hours can be commented on and perceived as a rough showdown with an investigative journalist uncomfortable with the status quo, if serious facts of a crime are not provided to the public. The case is also a testimony of an unacceptable approach of the Minister of the Interior, who remained in his post and in the office.

Dimitar Stoyanov is known to have a profile and file in the services. He takes up martial arts precisely because of the threats against him in connection with his investigations. The authorities know he has a weapon and is trained to use it. His reaction to a person being attacked in the context of the investigation he is dealing with is to protect his life by any means necessary. And whether it is a coincidence that the attack happened in a place where there is video surveillance – the conclusions remain for the citizens and the investigators.

The case of that night can be controversial, if it is not seen as a continuation of another attack by Kalin Stoyanov against the freedom of speech and specifically against the journalists from bird.bg., commented the media. A week ago, it became clear that the Acting Minister of the Interior filed a civil suit for defamation worth BGN 65,000 against the journalists from the investigative site BIRD – Atanas Chobanov and Dimitar Stoyanov. In journalistic circles, this type of attack is accepted as a case – a slap (from the English SLAPP). Across Europe and the democratic world, such claims are interpreted as an attempt to crack down on free journalism.
On this occasion, the member of the Anti-Corruption Fund Andrey Yankulov commented on his Facebook page: “The Ministry of the Interior, whose minister is conducting a civil case against Dimitar Stoyanov for a serious sum of money, published a video recording of an investigation of several hours, which presents Dimitar Stoyanov in a negative light to the public.
Leave the rest to the early stage of the investigation, all versions to be checked with all possible evidence, our “investigative secret” friend who is nothing more than a call girl, and so on.
A clearer example of the work of a state institution for private benefit can hardly be given,” says Yankulov.

At the beginning of March, bird.bg announced that it had information about telephone conversations between Kalin Stoyanov, who in 2021 was the director of GDBOP, and the late Martin Bojanov – the Notary, who was ostentatiously murdered in Sofia in January of this year. Stoyanov denies this and accuses the site’s authors of having affected his authority. This became the reason for his lawsuit. The Association of European Journalists in Bulgaria (AEJ) has studied in detail the claim of Kalin Stoyanov against Chobanov and Stoyanov and is categorically of the opinion that the filed application bears the characteristics of a slap in the face case.

Another case is in sync with the attitude of the interior minister to oppose anyone who accuses him of ties to the criminal world. Stoyanov also accused the former director of the Traffic Police, Tencho Tenev, of being close to those under investigation for smuggling, Marin and Stefan Dimitrovi, and it was he who introduced them to the former Minister of the Interior, Boyko Rashkov.

However, Tenev commented today to NOVA that he really saw Stefan Dimitrov several times when he was in the traffic police. Something more. Stefan Dimitrov claimed that he was close to the director of GDBOP – then Kalin Stoyanov, and that he was his friend.