Attila Biro

The International Press Institute (IPI) today joined five other international press freedom organizations in urging Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov to ensure the physical safety of investigative journalists working in their country.

Reporters Without Borders condemns in the strongest terms the detention by Bulgarian police earlier this month of two journalists investigating allegations of fraud involving European Union funds in Romania and Bulgaria.

Some 200 people demonstrated outside the Palace of Justice in central Sofia on Monday evening against the arrests last week of Romanian and Bulgarian investigative reporters who were working on a story about the abuse of EU funds.

Over 200 people gathered in protest at the Court of Justice in Sofia to defend the Bulgarian and Romanian journalists who were detained by the police last week while they were investigating. People have declared themselves to defend the freedom of speech before the Court of Justice. They support the journalist from the site Bivola Dimitar Stoyanov and his Romanian counterpart, Attila Biro.

Two journalists - Bulgarian and Romanian - have been detained by the Pernik police in connection with a European corruption investigation. This was announced late on Thursday evening on the Facebook page of Bivola investigative website.

Bulgarian police in Pernik, a small town on the outskirts of the country's capital Sofia, on Thursday detained two investigative journalists from the independent platforms Rise Romania and Bivol Bulgaria as they researched a story on fraud involving European funds, the media outlets announced.

RISE Project announced that journalist Attila Biro was detained by Bulgarian police while documenting a Bulgarian journalist's case of fraud with European funds. The Bulgarian authorities also do not communicate with the Romanian consuls in Sofia.

Romania's Embassy in Sofia is focusing on the case of the Romanian citizen detained Thursday night through Friday on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria and urgently undertook demarches with the local authorities seeking additional information, the Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) informs.