Sep 25 2008
Bulgarian journalists call for crackdown on mafia
Ognyan Stefanov, 54, was attacked by four men who broke his arms and legs as he left a restaurant in the capital on Monday.
Dozens of Bulgarian journalists protested in central Sofia on Thursday to demand a crackdown on organised crime after an editor was injured in an assault described by parliament as an attack on freedom of speech.
Ognyan Stefanov, 54, was attacked by four men who broke his arms and legs as he left a restaurant in the capital on Monday. Stefanov, editor-in-chief of the online news provider frognews.bg, is recovering in hospital.
Some of his articles exposed links between government officials, politicians and crime bosses.
“The attack is part of the brazen killings happening in the country. Apparently authorities are unable to crack down on the mafia,” the journalists said in a statement.
Bulgaria, the European Union’s poorest country, is struggling to shake off a reputation for graft and organised crime.
Its parliament approved a declaration on Thursday, urging police to find and punish Stefanov’s attackers.
“The parliament angrily condemns this brutal assault of a Bulgarian journalist as well as all attacks on freedom of speech,” it said.
Human rights group Amnesty International called the attack a threat to freedom of expression.
At least three journalists have been attacked in Bulgaria in the past year.
In 2006, a bomb exploded in the apartment of an investigative reporter who had uncovered crime and abuse of power among police and state officials. Earlier this year, a gunman killed an author who wrote about the Bulgarian mafia.
The EU has punished Bulgaria for its failure to tackle high-level graft and crime by freezing more than 500 million euros in funding.
Bulgarian journalists call for crackdown on mafia – Thursday, 25 September 2008 17:50 – Reuters – This story was found at: http://www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=28784
