Sofia military court frees security guard who pushed journalist

A military court in Sofia has acquitted Martin Varadinov, ruling there is insufficient evidence that he struck journalist Sonya Koltuklieva and caused bodily injury. The court concluded there is no reasonable presumption that a criminal offence was committed.

Court ruling

“In this situation, my client did exactly what the law requires. He closed the car door and they left accordingly, the motorcade moved on. In this specific case, employees of the National Security Service cannot be held responsible, because it is not clear that this was a journalist. She has no microphone, no camera and is holding a phone,” said Varadinov’s lawyer, Tervel Georgiev.

Varadinov was brought to court after an incident in which he pushed journalist Sonya Koltuklieva while she was attempting to obtain a statement from Mihaela Dotsova, the Speaker of the Bulgarian National Assembly. Koltuklieva fell, suffered a concussion and an injured arm, and was taken to hospital.

The episode prompted the resignation of Emil Tonev, the head of the National Security Service, who submitted his resignation to the head of state.

The confrontation happened on a Friday, when the journalist opened the car door of the speaker’s vehicle to request an interview and members of the protection detail reacted forcefully.

The Bulgarian Journalists’ Union (SBN) condemned the event, calling for legislative changes to better protect journalistic rights, the work of journalists and freedom of expression. The union described the episode as scandalous and noted that no one from the convoy assisted the injured reporter. At the same time, SBN stressed that journalists also have an obligation to follow the law and adhere to professional and ethical standards, and said the incident occurred after Koltuklieva opened the speaker’s car door — a breach of security rules — while describing the security reaction as excessive.

Photo: press material from the event