Press groups urge Bulgaria to drop probe of editor
Press groups yesterday slammed Bulgaria for probing the editor of a well-known investigative website over a massive hack and leak of taxpayer data, saying media freedom was under threat.
Prosecutors probing last month’s cyber attack, which saw data of almost every Bulgarian in the country leaked, issued a European investigation order on Thursday, seeking assistance from France to question Bivol editor-in-chief Atanas Chobanov, who lives there.
Prosecutors said they found evidence that Bivol had received the leaked files two weeks before they were sent to other media.
The website has denied this. It also had not published the information, which was released by other outlets.
The International Press Institute (IPI) called on Bulgaria to immediately withdraw the investigation order, calling it “a pretext to silence Bivol, which has published several investigative reports exposing misuse of EU funds and corruption in the government”.
The Bulgarian branch of the Association of European Journalists (AEJ) also urged France to refuse cooperation, warning that Bivol may come “under unlawful and unproportional pressure” to reveal its sources.
“This might have a direct effect on their professional work and a horrific effect of self-censorship on the (journalistic) community as a whole,” it said in a statement.
The authorities have already charged a 20-year-old cybercrime specialist, his senior manager and their company owner, with “cyber-terrorism” over the unprecedented breach which saw thousands of tax agency files with sensitive personal and income data leaked to the press in mid-July, affecting as many as 5.1 million people.
The three men face between five and 15 years in jail if convicted.
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