Sonya Koltuktieva pushed by security while trying to question Speaker Michaela Dotsova

Bulgarian journalist Sonya Koltuktieva was shoved to the pavement by a member of the State Security Service (SNB) while trying to get a statement from the Speaker of the Bulgarian Parliament, Michaela Dotsova, as Dotsova was entering a car after a meeting, video posted on social media shows.

Video shows the push; journalist treated in hospital

The footage circulating online captures a security officer pushing Koltuktieva, who then falls on the sidewalk and remains on the ground after the speaker's vehicle departs. Bystanders rushed to help the journalist at the scene.

According to media reports, Koltuktieva was first taken to the Military Medical Academy for examination and later released for home care, but she has since announced she is continuing treatment at St. Sophia Hospital. Doctors reportedly found multiple injuries, including a dislocated shoulder, and there are suspicions of a concussion.

The SNB officer who pushed the journalist was detained after voluntarily giving a statement about the incident.

Opposition parties and political figures reacted strongly, demanding resignations and an institutional response. GERB-SDS called for immediate accountability and urged Speaker Michaela Dotsova to resign: "It is unacceptable for a journalist to be knocked to the ground by the actions of the speaker's security, while she herself leaves the scene of the incident without taking responsibility for what happened," the party said in a statement.

Other figures demanding resignations included Atanas Atanasov of Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria and leaders who criticized the security service and Dotsova's entourage. President Iliana Yotova called for a full investigation, and presidential candidate Andrey Gurov demanded the resignation of SNB director General Emil Tonev, saying that asking questions of authorities is part of democracy, not a threat to national security.

Koltuktieva posted on Facebook that she is receiving pain medication, suffers from severe headaches and cannot read or use the phone. She thanked God for being alive and wrote: "Thank God I was left alive! It was brutal and cruel. What did I threaten Michaela Dotsova with?! With one phone?" She also criticised long-standing complaints about the behaviour of the security detail around Prime Minister Rumen Radev and pledged to return to work once recovered.

Photo: Printskrin