Bulgarian Activists, Journalists Named 'Foreign Mercenaries'

The 240-page book called 'Robbers of Democracy', which was distributed free with the Telegraph daily newspaper, part of the Balkan Media Company linked to controversial media mogul Delyan Peevski, has caused anger among those accused of being "foreign mercenaries".

Some of them said that the book, which was distributed on Monday with what is the highest-circulation newspaper in Bulgaria, was a deliberate attempt to mislead the public.

"This is a terrible, disgusting campaign, which I cannot even call journalism," one of them, Asen Yordanov, a journalist from the investigative website Bivol, told BIRN.

An entire chapter of the book is dedicated accusations against to Bivol, which is a member of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.

Other chapters cover the main figures from the mass anti-government protests on Bulgaria's streets in 2013 and the non-governmental organizations and media and think-tanks funded by Sorso's Open Society Foundation and America for Bulgaria - the main donors to Bulgarian civil society groups.

The newly-formed Yes Bulgaria party, led by former justice minister Hristo Ivanov, is portrayed as a project aimed at seizing power orchestrated by Soros.

Judges and members of legal NGOs advocating reforms of Bulgaria's judiciary are also targeted with accusations that they are trying take over the legal system in order to serve oligarchic interests.

Among those accused is Romania's former justice minister and founder of the anti-corruption prosecution, Monica Macovei.

The book describes her as "Romania's on-call officer for the generous George Soros" and accuses of carrying out witch hunts on behalf of those on power.

Bulgaria's prominent analyst, who is also a columnist...