Freedom of Speech peeked boldly from the “Black Book of Government Waste in Bulgaria 2023”. Now in its ninth year, the Black Book brings together 15 stories of wasted public resources, corruption and outrage in government. About half of the journalists’ investigations are from the country. “Corruption outside the capital is no less. It is even much more egregious, much more painful and more threatening. Carelessness and corruption can even kill,” says journalist Diana Zhelyazkova. She started writing about the Black Book 5 years ago with a piece about the Shumen Arena, built in 2018. BGN 13 million were poured into the project. At the first rain the hall flowed. Complete silence followed, even though we have municipal TV, private websites, national media. After I wrote about what happened, we caused a huge scandal. But everything was covered. The next year, even the parade staircase collapsed, The following year, even the parade staircase collapsed”, says Zhelyazkova, who provoked the interest of the German state television.
“For many years nothing happened after my publications. At a certain point one despairs. For the last year I have been working on two projects in two small Deliorman municipalities that are governed by different political parties. People are crushed and have to keep quiet because local government is both the bread and the knife. And even local shops are run by local rulers. The goal is to enter such small municipalities and give courage to the people,” says Diana Zhelyazkova. She told journalist Spas Spasov about the two cases from Varna that found a place in this year’s edition. The publications concern an investigation of state properties near Varna, which have been serving private interests for years without compensation. The other topic is related to a state plot of land, intended for a street in Kamchia, which became private proprerty.
After 2009, freedom of speech in Bulgaria began to be restricted, the journalist’s observations show. “When I unfold old newspapers from 2001-2003, I see how we used to write – brilliantly, freely. Back then we were much ahead in the free speech rankings as well. Then we started self-censoring. Why? For three years I was investigated under the Criminal Code for information that the residents of a village had collected a petition to oust the mayor. When you go to courts to give explanations, you start to be careful what words you use. But it makes sense even handling words very carefully. When citizens see that there is someone to help them, to nudge them, they get discouraged. A critical mass gathers and turns things around. What we are doing makes sense”, Diana Zhelyazkova is convinced.
“The Black Book of Government Waste in Bulgaria” was also presented by journalist Diana Zhelyazkova during the Civic Forum “Democracy Conference 2024” in Varna. The book is almost a peer of the forum and was born because of the lack of civil control over the transparency and accountability of institutions in terms of public spending.
