Tapping scandals are now a tradition
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OBEKTIV 1 1992 - In September, the newly elected chairman of the Supreme Council of the Bul- garian Socialist Party (BSP) Jan Videnov an- nounced that his party’s headquarters at 20 Pozitano Street were being tapped. He claimed that his room was bugged with the so called “ears”. At the time, UDF (The Union of Demo- cratic Forces) governed the country, and the Minister of Interior was Yordan Sokolov. He or- dered an immediate check of the building but no equipment was reported found. 1994 - The ”Kruleva” Parliamentary Com- mission published a report according to which Ahmed Dogan, Sherife Mustafa, and other MRF (The Movement for Rights and Freedoms) leaders had been bugged in the autumn of 1992 at the order of the Internal Minister Yordan Sokolov. This was done by listening in on Mehmed Tefik’s telephone, Tefik being a wit- ness from “that list”. This information was later confirmed by the Internal Minister with Luben Berov’s Cabinet, Viktor Mihaylov. 1994 - the first law on Special Intelligence Means was adopted. 2001 - former chief of Military Prosecutor’s Office Lilko Yotsov filed a complaint for tele- phone tapping in 1994 during Reneta Indzhova’s caretaker government, ordered by then Interior Minister Chavdar Chervenkov. 1996 - Chair of the National Executive Council (NEC) of then opposition UDF, Ivan Kostov complained that during the presiden- tial elections in the autumn of 1996 two ”bugs” were found at UDF headquarters. One of them was in the room of Democracy Newspaper editor-in-chief, the other on the floor of his own office. The opposition demanded an explana- tion from then Interior Minister, the socialist Nikolay Dobrev. 1997 - a new law on Special Intelligence Means (SIM) adopted. 1998 - in September, a telephone tapping device was discovered in a mill owned by the UDF deputy Teodosiy Simeonov, later a Minis- ter of Justice. 2000 - former Interior Minister Bogomil Bonev claimed that in 1998 General Atanasov had asked him to sign an order for telephone monitoring of Andrey Raychev. 2000 - MP Dimitar Ludzhev accused Prime Minister Ivan Kostov of ordering Head of Na- tional Security Service (NSS) General Atanas Atanasov, currently a DSB (Democrats for Strong Bulgaria) mandate MP, to perform tele- phone tapping of 43 opposition politicians and journalists with the purpose of gathering com- promising information against them. 2000 - on 28 July, tapping devices were dis- covered in the house of then Chief Prosecu- tor Nikola Filchev. The microphones were con- nected to a telephone exchange installed in the house of retired Colonel Plamen Arsov, a former SOTI official. Arsov and former SOTI Chief Svetozar Spasov were arrested. Pro- ceedings have still not been completed, as the defendants will not plead guilty. Accord- ing to some information in the press, 700 apart- ments in Sofia and 3,000 throughout the coun- try are currently “equipped”. 2000 - on 24 November, prosecutor Nikolay Chiprov, Head of ”General Supervision” De- partment with the Supreme Administrative Prosecutor’s Office and former Chairman of the Military College with the Supreme Admin- istrative Court provided the Supreme Judicial Council with recordings of tapped magis- trates’ conversations. 2001 - a telephone technician was caught recording politicians’ conversations in the Au- tomatic Telephone Exchange 7. Tape record- ers were installed on 1 December 2000 and uninstalled with the technician’s arrest toward the end of January 2001. The NSS admitted the technician was their agent. Tapping scandals are now a tradition From the very beginning of changes in Bulgaria 18 years ago, there have been regular scandals to do with illegal telephone monitoring (tapping) of politicians and journalists. These have marked the mandates of all our governments.
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Publication of the journal Obektiv, number 149 of 2007
Transcript of Tapping scandals are now a tradition
OBEKTIV 1
1992 - In September, the newly electedchairman of the Supreme Council of the Bul-garian Socialist Party (BSP) Jan Videnov an-nounced that his party’s headquarters at 20Pozitano Street were being tapped. He claimedthat his room was bugged with the so called“ears”. At the time, UDF (The Union of Demo-cratic Forces) governed the country, and theMinister of Interior was Yordan Sokolov. He or-dered an immediate check of the building butno equipment was reported found.
1994 - The ”Kruleva” Parliamentary Com-mission published a report according to whichAhmed Dogan, Sherife Mustafa, and otherMRF (The Movement for Rights and Freedoms)leaders had been bugged in the autumn of1992 at the order of the Internal Minister YordanSokolov. This was done by listening in onMehmed Tefik’s telephone, Tefik being a wit-ness from “that list”. This information was laterconfirmed by the Internal Minister with LubenBerov’s Cabinet, Viktor Mihaylov.
1994 - the first law on Special IntelligenceMeans was adopted.
2001 - former chief of Military Prosecutor’sOffice Lilko Yotsov filed a complaint for tele-phone tapping in 1994 during RenetaIndzhova’s caretaker government, ordered bythen Interior Minister Chavdar Chervenkov.
1996 - Chair of the National ExecutiveCouncil (NEC) of then opposition UDF, IvanKostov complained that during the presiden-tial elections in the autumn of 1996 two ”bugs”were found at UDF headquarters. One of themwas in the room of Democracy Newspapereditor-in-chief, the other on the floor of his ownoffice. The opposition demanded an explana-tion from then Interior Minister, the socialistNikolay Dobrev.
1997 - a new law on Special IntelligenceMeans (SIM) adopted.
1998 - in September, a telephone tapping
device was discovered in a mill owned by theUDF deputy Teodosiy Simeonov, later a Minis-ter of Justice.
2000 - former Interior Minister BogomilBonev claimed that in 1998 General Atanasovhad asked him to sign an order for telephonemonitoring of Andrey Raychev.
2000 - MP Dimitar Ludzhev accused PrimeMinister Ivan Kostov of ordering Head of Na-tional Security Service (NSS) General AtanasAtanasov, currently a DSB (Democrats forStrong Bulgaria) mandate MP, to perform tele-phone tapping of 43 opposition politicians andjournalists with the purpose of gathering com-promising information against them.
2000 - on 28 July, tapping devices were dis-covered in the house of then Chief Prosecu-tor Nikola Filchev. The microphones were con-nected to a telephone exchange installed inthe house of retired Colonel Plamen Arsov, aformer SOTI official. Arsov and former SOTIChief Svetozar Spasov were arrested. Pro-ceedings have still not been completed, asthe defendants will not plead guilty. Accord-ing to some information in the press, 700 apart-ments in Sofia and 3,000 throughout the coun-try are currently “equipped”.
2000 - on 24 November, prosecutor NikolayChiprov, Head of ”General Supervision” De-partment with the Supreme AdministrativeProsecutor’s Office and former Chairman ofthe Military College with the Supreme Admin-istrative Court provided the Supreme JudicialCouncil with recordings of tapped magis-trates’ conversations.
2001 - a telephone technician was caughtrecording politicians’ conversations in the Au-tomatic Telephone Exchange 7. Tape record-ers were installed on 1 December 2000 anduninstalled with the technician’s arrest towardthe end of January 2001. The NSS admittedthe technician was their agent.
Tapping scandals
are now a tradition
From the very beginning of changes in Bulgaria 18 years ago, there have beenregular scandals to do with illegal telephone monitoring (tapping) of politiciansand journalists. These have marked the mandates of all our governments.
2002 - Minister of Justice with the SimeonSax Coburg Gotha’s Cabinet Anton Stankovappeared to have been subjected to tele-phone monitoring. The object of investigationwas police officer Zhivko Georgiev but he ap-peared to have been in contact with the Min-ister. Another alleged victim of tapping wasthe head of the Sailors’ Trade Union, PlamenSimov. As a result, his conversations with EdvinSugarev had been recorded. These uselessrecordings were supposed to have been de-stroyed within 10 days but they had not.
2002 - between mid October and mid No-vember, former Counter-Intelligence (NSS)Chief Atanas Atanasov had been subject tomonitoring. Approval was granted as part ofOperation Gnome. Tapping had also beenused for politicians and journalists. It is also saidthat among them were Peter Stoyanov,Nadezhda Mihaylova (the then UDF leader),Lili Marinkova, Nikolay Barekov, etc.
2003 - on Ministry of Interior insistenceamendments were made to the SIM law toallow action with an order from the Ministerwithout the prior approval of the court in casesof national security threats. The court is thento pass judgement on the Minister’s orderwithin 24 hours.
2005 - Prosecutor’s Office project for theLaw on the Fight against Organised Crime pro-poses each individual case where an investi-gation is employing SIM to be entered in a
central register with the Supreme CassationProsecutor’s Office. Police officers and inves-tigators approved or ordered to employ tap-ping devices would have to present the de-vice for registry entry within 72 hours. This draftlaw has not been adopted so far.
2007 - Head of the Strike Committee at thePirogov Institute Krastyo Penchev M.D. wasidentified on a recording while providing ad-vice to Mityo ”Ochite” on how to behave soas to be certified as a clinical case. The Ministryof Interior never provided an acceptable ex-planation of whether this recording was madeusing SIM, and if yes, why was it not used incourt or destroyed within the term providedfor by law.
2007 - former National Guard Service (NGS)officer Nikolay Markov claims in front of theInternal Security and Public Order Parliamen-tary Committee that the NGS is engaged inobservation and telephone monitoring of poli-ticians. The collected information was for theuse of the Head of State.
A check by the Chief ProsecutorNikola Filchev in 2001 revealedthat out of 10,034 tapping caseswith SIM for 1999 and 2000, only267, or less than 3 per cent, hadbeen used by the court. Of them,only 100 were actually registeredas evidence in the courtroom.
2 OBEKTIV
