Bulgaria: Radio Free Europe Journalist Polina Paunova Impeded At Work, Equipment Confiscated While Filming The Ruling Party’s Conference
Location: Bulgaria, Sofia
Date: August 8, 2020
National Conference of the governing political party GERB in "Sofia Tech Park" was marked by physical clashes between young men in masks and protesters and journalists.
Some of the people who attacked the demonstrators also showed physical aggression against journalist Polina Paunova from Radio Free Europe, taking away the phone with which she was filming, impeding her work.
"The boys who made the provocation (after which there were clashes with the protesters) refused to say who they were. They took my phone again and threw it away," Polina said later.
Together with her colleague from Free Europe Genka Shikerova, they made another attempt to film the aggressive men, in which one of them attacked Polina again, took her phone and threw it aside. The masked man also tried to take Genka's phone, at which point she started calling the security for help.
The two men were then detained for acts of aggression charged with hooliganism and arrested with a prosecutor's order for 72 hours.
The Ministry of Interior also stated on Thursday that the perpetrators have been identified and interrogated.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism welcomes the swift action of the Bulgarian authorities. Such acts of aggression against journalists is a threat to Bulgaria’s democracy and its citizens’ right to information.
The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.
If you have been harassed or abused in any way, and please report the incident by using the following form.
