The leader of “There is such a people“ (ITN) Slavi Trifonov lost the defamation and insult case against the co-chairman of “We continue the change“ (PP) Kiril Petkov.
This is clear from the decision of the Sofia Court of Appeal (SAC), which overturned the decision of the first instance, which had sentenced Petkov to pay 50,000 leva to Trifonov for making offensive and defamatory statements about him, showed a check by “Lex“.
Trifonov filed the case against Petkov because of his statements at a press conference on June 13, 2022, related to the exit of ITN from the then ruling coalition. At it, then-Prime Minister Kiril Petkov spoke about the “watershed between the state seized by the mafia and the Bulgaria of free people“.
In his lawsuit, Trifonov wrote that he was offended by the words “backstage singer“ and “backstage players“, and claims that all of Petkov's statements that suggested links to the mafia are defamatory.
Early last year, Judge Bozhana Zhelyazkova of the Sofia City Court (SCC) accepted that Petkov's assessment of Trifonov, that in his person “the Mafia just lost its coalition partner“, was humiliating and offensive.
The court had also referred to the testimonies of people close to Trifonov. Among them was the chairman of the ITN group in parliament, Toshko Yordanov, who said that everyone in the party was shocked because it was clear from Petkov's words that he had Trifonov in mind when he spoke in general about the mafia and behind-the-scenes, and this put a stain on everyone in the ITN.
The Court of Appeals points out that Petkov's statement about the “watershed between the state seized by the mafia and the Bulgaria of free people“ is not directly aimed at Trifonov, nor in his words that there was no support from the Communist Party of Bulgaria and the Communist Party of Bulgaria in the fight against the mafia because of the unwillingness of the ITN leader.
“In this case, the expression used “because of Slavi Trifonov's unwillingness” is the defendant's comment on the situation and is an expression of his assessment that the plaintiff's behavior has remained passive towards resolving problems with public resonance.
The CAS is categorical that there is nothing illegal in the statement “Bulgaria has a chance, the mafia just lost its coalition partner“.
In summary, the CAS accepts that in none of Petkov's statements is Slavi Trifonov specifically characterized as a person who commits illegal and morally reprehensible actions.
However, the decision is not final and can be appealed to the Supreme Court of Cassation.