There is a lot of direct communication between the Prosecutor’s Office and certain media that support it. There are leaks of screenshots from messages, preliminary information about upcoming actions, and at the same time some organizations and journalistic investigations are not in the priority list of the public prosecution. This was commented by the journalist Nikolay Staykov, who has been guarded by employees of the Ministry of Interior since Friday with a prosecutor’s decree. In an interview with “BNR”, he clarified that his investigation of “The Eight Dwarves” is not among the priorities.
„This is not the way I understand the cooperation between institutions and investigative journalists, if they really have a common goal – the rule of law.“
According to him, for many years, the institutions and journalists involved in investigations have stood on both sides of the barricade, although this should not be the case.
„Obvious investigations cannot obviously be a priority for the Prosecutor General and provide too much information on them, as we see from his media appearances, and at the same time, under the pretext that pre-trial proceedings are currently underway, not provide information on others. This means a double standard and practically confirms any doubts that we have selective actions of the prosecution, which serve any other interests besides the in-depth investigation. And that’s why I say everywhere that I don’t have high expectations.“
Staykov is worried that the investigation will be conducted by this unit of the public prosecution, which until recently was headed by Emil Petrov – the brother of the main figure of his investigation Petyo Petrov. He also shared the difficulties he faced in creating the material outside the threats. According to him, the biggest challenge was the „silence of the institutions„, especially the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office – which, according to one witness from the second part of „The Eight Dwarfs“, was directly involved in the case. He reveals that in the third part there is more information and witnesses.
„It is very difficult when the institutions themselves do not want to talk in order to understand whether a story is true. In such a situation, the only thing left for us as investigative journalists is to look at the documents. Unfortunately, the second part, which tells about seized material evidence in the form of gold worth several million Bulgarian levs, also shows direct intervention of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office with decrees, with the return of the gold in question. According to the documents, it was taken by one person and returned to another. Each of the documents is signed by a person from the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office. Many questions arise, as this is not a common action. Unfortunately, many of the questions remained unanswered for our legal team, as the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office did not request any comment. I personally called the then head of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office, Dimitar Frantisek Petrov, but I did not receive any comment from him.“
Staykov said that it was strange for him to be constantly under escort and was considering discussing with his colleagues whether he needed it.
„I think this is a reaction to the „Reporters Without Borders“ declaration and the institutions obviously want to insure themselves. I have not yet checked my rights to see if I have the right to request a change in this measure. Even now, as we speak, they are guarding me – they are sitting ten meters away from me. „
