An officer from the state security apparatus has physically knocked veteran investigative journalist Sonya Koltuklieva to the pavement outside ruling party headquarters in Sofia, prompting her to be urgently hospitalised.
The incident, on the evening of October 22, has caused cross-party demands for the immediate dismissal of National Assembly Speaker Mihaela Dotsova.
The confrontation took place on Hristo Botev Boulevard immediately following a closed-door meeting of the governing centre-left Progressive Bulgaria party, which Prime Minister Rumen Radev also attended.
Koltuklieva, a prominent reporter for the digital news outlet PIK known for directly questioning public figures in public venues, approached Dotsova as the Speaker moved towards her official motorcade.
Koltuklieva sought to question Dotsova regarding procedural delays in parliamentary hearings concerning President Iliana Yotova, specifically over a controversial presidential pardon issued to a convicted drug trafficker.
An extraordinary sitting on October 13 to examine the medical report behind the pardon of Ognyan Atanasov collapsed for lack of a quorum after Progressive Bulgaria, which holds 131 of the 240 seats, stayed away. Yotova has said she would hand the documents to prosecutors.
Before the reporter could conclude her inquiry, an operative from the National Protection Service (NSO)—the elite state agency responsible for guarding senior dignitaries—intervened and shoved Koltuklieva directly to the ground.
Video footage circulating across Bulgarian media shows Koltuklieva lying motionless on the asphalt while the official delegation boarded the vehicles and departed without checking on her.
Emergency personnel subsequently transported Koltuklieva to Sofia’s Military Medical Academy, where PIK reported she had suffered a dislocated shoulder, a broken collarbone and concussion. The hospital declined to confirm any diagnosis, citing medical confidentiality.
The incident swiftly triggered a criminal investigation by the Military District Prosecution Office into whether the state security detail used disproportionate force.
Shortly after midnight on October 23, authorities detained the NSO officer involved, identified as Martin Varadinov, following an initial interrogation. He was led out of the military prosecutor’s building in handcuffs.
Dotsova later appeared at the prosecutor’s office for questioning.
In subsequent public comments, the Speaker stated that she felt stressed during the encounter outside the party building and pledged to demand strict disciplinary action against the officers assigned to her detail. She called the incident “absolutely unacceptable” though added that she did not sit in judgment on her guards’ actions.
On October 23 Koltuklieva posted on Facebook, saying she was on painkillers and that the doctors were deciding that day whether to operate on her shoulder. She had by then been admitted to the Sveta Sofia hospital in the capital.
About the incident she said, “What happened was brutal and cruel. How was I a threat to Mihaela Dotsova?! With a phone?”
“Something has to change! For years we have been complaining—not just me!—about Rumen Radev’s security guards. Zero reaction. And look where it has led. My leather beret saved me from a fatal outcome when I hit the pavement…”
Sonya Koltuklieva is a well-known, veteran Bulgarian journalist and media personality who currently reports for the digital news agency PIK (ПИК).
Over several decades in Bulgarian media, she has worked across print, television, radio and online press, while also crossing into popular culture through appearances on reality television programmes such as VIP Brother Bulgaria.
She is known for having a direct, confrontational style of field reporting and frequently conducts unannounced, live-streamed mobile broadcasts in corridors, car parks and outside political summits, approaching ministers, lawmakers and state figures directly without going through formal press arrangements.
She characterises herself as an independent outsider and “lone rider” pursuing public accountability against the political establishment.
Officials within Progressive Bulgaria attempted to push back, with party deputy chair Alexander Neychev describing the encounter as an intentional provocation designed to disrupt official business.
Koltuklieva dismissed that defence from her hospital bed, arguing that approaching officials in transit is often the only available method to hold public servants accountable when formal press requests are routinely ignored.
The fallout quickly reverberated across the National Assembly.
Former prime minister and GERB party leader Boyko Borissov called for Dotsova’s immediate resignation, stating that the Speaker’s continued presence in office had become untenable. His party has gathered 39 of the 80 signatures needed to convene an extraordinary sitting of parliament on her position.
President Iliana Yotova strongly condemned what she described as an unacceptable and excessive response by an NSO officer towards journalist Sonya Koltuklieva, according to a statement released by her press secretariat.
Delyan Peevski, leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, went further, demanding not only Dotsova’s departure but the outright dismissal of NSO chief Emil Tonev, arguing that state security organs cannot operate outside public scrutiny.
Democratic Bulgaria representative Ivaylo Mirchev echoed the criticism, warning that state protection details exist to protect the state, not to shield politicians from unwanted press inquiries.
The Association of European Journalists – Bulgaria called for a swift, transparent investigation and accountability for the NSO officer involved, his colleagues and their superiors. It said the officers had left Koltuklieva without checking her condition or providing first aid, and that footage appeared to show a breach of the legal duty to protect citizens’ lives and health.
There already were questions in Sofia over the mandate of the NSO, an institution answering directly to the presidency that has repeatedly been accused of functioning as an opaque, private security wing for the governing elite rather than a modern, accountable public body.
