**Updates IFEX alert of 19 January 1999** (WPFC/IFEX) – The following is a 22 January 1999 WPFC letter to Bulgarian President Petar Stoyanov protesting the criminal investigation launched against journalist Tatiana Vaksberg: Fax Letter to: 359 2987-5601 Mr. Petar Stoyanov President of the Republic Sofia, Bulgaria Your Excellency: The World Press Freedom Committee is highly […]
**Updates IFEX alert of 19 January 1999**
(WPFC/IFEX) – The following is a 22 January 1999 WPFC letter to Bulgarian
President Petar Stoyanov protesting the criminal investigation launched
against journalist Tatiana Vaksberg:
Fax Letter to: 359 2987-5601
Mr. Petar Stoyanov
President of the Republic
Sofia, Bulgaria
Your Excellency:
The World Press Freedom Committee is highly distressed to learn that Tatiana
Vaksberg of Radio Free Europe, a highly respected Bulgarian journalist, has
been placed under official criminal investigation by order of Public
Prosecutor Ivan Tatarchev for critical comments about himself, made in
October 1998. It is our understanding that, before that time, Mr. Tatarchev
has been frequently discussed in similar terms by other news media and that
they were not prosecuted.
Ms. Vaksberg is personally well-known to the WPFC as a reputable and serious
journalist.
The provisions of the Bulgarian Penal Code under which she is being
investigated, Articles 146 and 148, protecting “honor and dignity” and
punishing “insulting the authority of the State,” involve the unacceptable
criminalization of expressions of opinion. If convicted, Ms. Vaksberg could
be sentenced to up to two years in prison.
The United Nations Human Rights Commission has stated that imprisonment is
never justified for expressions of opinion. Major national and international
courts, including the United States Supreme Court, the European Court of
Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have ruled in a
number of celebrated opinions that in a democracy public officials should be
afforded less, not more, protection from public scrutiny and comment than
private persons.
Obsolete laws similar to those invoked by Mr. Tatarchev do persist on the
statute books in some West European democracies. But, in recognition that
they are incompatible with the need for free, open and robust discussion in
a democracy, such laws have in recent decades almost never been invoked by
those governments. On the contrary, the trend is clearly for the abolition
of such “insult” laws. They have been abrogated in recent times in a diverse
range of countries, including Argentina, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Moldova,
Spain and Sweden.
Knowing your dedication to the principles of democracy, Mr. President, we
urge you to take the initiative of beginning a process leading to the
revocation of criminal defamation under Bulgarian law, to seize upon this
case as an appropriate opportunity for Bulgaria to join in a salutary global
movement toward the decriminalization of expressions of opinion.
The reputation of Bulgaria as a democracy ruled by just laws would stand to
gain immeasurably.
If a person can show that he or she was unjustly libeled, such an offended
party should be able to seek in a civil court the award of any demonstrable
damages to his or her reputation. The person deeming him or herself offended
should be the only one empowered to seek such damages. The State should not
act on behalf of an allegedly injured party in a civil suit. Those are the
conditions that surround the law of libel and defamation in modern and
democratically responsive lawmaking.
The World Press Freedom Committee groups 45 journalistic organizations from
all over the globe, representing both the printed and broadcasting press and
both labor and management, joined together in the defense and promotion of
press freedom.
We urge you to take a personal interest in this matter and look forward to
your response.
Respectfully,
Marilyn Greene, Executive Director
Ronald Koven, European Representative
World Press Freedom Committee
Appeals To
Mr. Petar Stoyanov
President of the Republic
Sofia, Bulgaria
Fax: +359 2987 5601
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
