Thursday’s incident involving Parliament Chair Mihaela Dotsova’s security detail and a journalist from the PIK news agency led the chief of the National Service for Protection (NSP), Emil Tonev, to tender his resignation on Friday. Political parties insisted on more resignations. The calls followed initial reactions from politicians and the Association of European Journalists – Bulgaria, which called for accountability from the NSP and Dotsova.
Video footage of the incident outside the Progressive Bulgaria headquarters shows an NSP officer pushing PIK journalist Sonia Koltuklieva, knocking her backwards onto the pavement after she opened the door of the Parliament Chair’s car to ask a question. The officer then got into the car, which drove away with Dotsova inside, leaving Koltuklieva lying on the ground. Dotsova said she had been unaware of what had happened but, after learning the seriousness of the incident, had gone in person to express her deep regret to Koltuklieva. The journalist reportedly suffered a fractured shoulder in the fall.
The NSP officer, Lieutenant Martin Varadinov, was detained in the early hours of Friday and released in the evening after the Sofia Military District Court ruled that no pre-trial restraint measure was necessary for him. The ruling is not final and may be appealed or challenged by the prosecution. In its reasoning, the court said there is insufficient reliable evidence to conclude that the accused struck the injured woman, citing witness statements, including Koltuklieva’s, which referred to her being pushed. The judge also said there was no evidence that Varadinov might abscond or pose a risk of committing another crime.
Meanwhile, President Iliana Iotova told bTV that NSP chief Emil Tonev had tendered his resignation. Iotova said the service needs reform, and it must start with legislation, because many of the problems are rooted there.
The incident triggered differing political responses on Friday, with opposition parties calling for the resignation of Dotsova and the NSP head, while ruling Progressive Bulgaria rejected the demands as politically motivated. GERB-UDF initially moved to seek Dotsova’s resignation but later withdrew the initiative.
On Friday, GERB-UDF announced that it had collected 39 of the 80 signatures from MPs required to convene an extraordinary sitting of Parliament to seek the resignation of Dotsova. GERB-UDF Deputy Floor Leader Denitsa Sacheva told reporters the incident had two aspects: the disproportionate use of force by the NSP officer and the public perception of indifference towards a person who had fallen to the ground.
The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) backed the initiative.
Meanwhile, Progressive Bulgaria said it would not allow the case involving Koltuklieva to be used for political purposes and described demands for Dotsova’s resignation as inadequate. The party said it opposed any excessive use of force and that violations were unacceptable, whether committed by representatives of state institutions or members of the media. It also accused its opponents of seeking to revive the “assemblage”, a pejorative term for a governing alliance between political rivals. Attempts to use the incident for political rehabilitation will fail, the party said.
Later in the day, GERB-UDF backtracked on its earlier announcement that it was collecting signatures to seek Dotsova’s resignation. GERB said that, after reviewing the position of Progressive Bulgaria, it was clear that the NSP officer would become “a convenient scapegoat to put an end to the scandal”. The party said it expected Dotsova and Progressive Bulgaria to reconsider their behaviour and take political responsibility for what happened. “The resignation should not be the result of political pressure, but of an awareness of one’s own responsibility,” GERB also said.
Democratic Bulgaria called for the resignations of NSP Director Emil Tonev and Dotsova. A government that had lost touch with reality could not ensure national unity, the coalition said. It added that incompetence and unprofessionalism were not political positions open to debate but grounds for dismissal.
Following a leadership meeting, Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria (DSB), part of Democratic Bulgaria, expressed full support for calls for Dotsova’s resignation and urged ruling party leader Rumen Radev to ask her to step down. The DSB leadership and MPs were unanimous that the incident was a logical continuation of what they described as a campaign of confrontation and the stoking of fear and division, led personally by the Prime Minister and the President.
Continue the Change leader Assen Vassilev told reporters the only way to preserve the dignity of Parliament is for Dotsova to resign not under pressure, but because she believes it is the right thing to do. He added that a resignation under pressure would not restore Parliament’s dignity as much as one offered out of genuine remorse for what had happened.
The Union of Bulgarian Journalists (UBJ) condemned the incident as outrageous and noted that no one in the motorcade had helped the injured journalist. Journalists’ rights, safety and professional work must always be respected and protected, including through legislation, the union said. At the same time, it stressed that the protection of journalists’ rights must go hand in hand with strict compliance with the law, including the rules governing the security of senior state officials.
National Protection Service Chief Tenders Resignation over Injured Journalist, Politicians Continue to Debate Incident 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-10-23 14:15:00
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