Cartoon: Aurélien Cantou

Journalists from Bivol Asen Yordanov and Atanas Tchobanov were invited by the Council of Europe to present their Balkanleaks platform at the World Forum for Democracy, which was held in the Council’s headquarters in Strasbourg from November 23 to 29. Balkanleaks and the Canadian initiative OpenNet, which tracks Internet censorship, were the leading presentations in the panel entitled "In Search of Transparency" (LAB 5), part of Theme 1: "Alternative to Representative Democracy."

The video from this panel was the only one that was not posted on the forum’s site. The information we received from a senior official from the Council of Europe is that censorship has been exerted on the order of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland. The reason – Balkanleaks’ presentation mentioned the names of Boyko Borisov AKA Buddha, of Sergey Stanishev and of Monica Yosifova.

Besides the journalists from Bivol and Adam Senft from OpenNet, participants in this session’s debates included: Jung-Won KIM, Senior Research Judge, Constitutional Court of South Korea, John SHIPTON, Australia, Chief Executive Officer of the Wikileaks Party, Chantal CUTAJAR, France, President, Citizens' Observatory for International Finance Transparency, Rachel OLDROYD, United Kingdom, Deputy Editor of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. The discussion was moderated by Julia LAFFRANQUE, Estonia, Judge at the European Court of Human Rights, while Ellen BERENDS, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the Council of Europe, was rapporteur to the plenary session.

Each of the discussions was reported to the plenary session and the forum’s participants had the opportunity to vote online and in plenary hall with YES or NO to the question whether the initiative greatly increases the influence of citizens in the process of political decision-making and if it makes democratic institutions more transparent and accountable. The Balkanleaks initiative received 74 % positive and 26% negative votes in the online voting. In plenary hall, 83% voted YES, 17% NO. The comparison shows that this is one of the highest ratings of all 20 conferences at the World Forum.

Screenshot of the plenary hall vote on Balkanleaks. Complete video recording of the vote in plenary hall can be seen here

The presentation was listened to with great interest and was welcomed with applause. The speakers were greeted personally and expressly by those leading the panel and by all other experts present in the hall.

Subsequently, it turned out that a large Bulgarian group, composed mostly of administrators and magistrates, has arrived specifically for this session. After it, several people besieged Asen Yordanov in the hallway and loudly attacked the journalist, saying that it was undignified to speak critically about Bulgaria at such a forum. These attackers refused to accept the presented data for the total collapse of freedom of speech in the country in the last six years, the dependence of Bulgarian media and, for the most part of them, their murky ownership; the growing trend of having a police State and of spying on those who oppose the government, etc. 

A few minutes later, Atanas Tchobanov was notified by an employee of the Council of Europe, Irena Gidikova that the presentation has created a political problem and has not been appreciated by the organizers. These events gave quick indication of the effect of Balkanleaks’ presentation among Bulgarians present in Strasbourg. One can only assume how fast the information leaked to Sofia and how it has been diligently reported that facts, unpleasant for the country’s political-gangster clique, have been revealed by journalists before the global community.

Lies about Technical Glitches

Videos from all other discussion panels were uploaded on the forum’s page as early as Thursday afternoon. Except LAB 5, which was mysteriously absent. Friday morning we inquired with the Head of Directorate Communication of the Council of Europe, Daniel Holtgen. At 10:23 am, we received a reply by an associate of the Directorate, Estelle Steiner, explaining that there was a "technical problem." Around noon, Director Daniel Holtgen confirmed by telephone that there was a technical problem exactly with LAB 5 and that a formal response about the lack of the video was in the process of being prepared.

The Lie

The exposure of the true "political problem" came with the price tag of more than 24 hours of maintaining a blatant lie before all participants about what and why prevented the broadcast of the session! A precedent that is extremely humiliating for participants, and is definitely unacceptable and embarrassing for the high criteria of a global institution, such as the Council of Europe, which claims to defend freedom of expression, transparency and democratic principles. This is hardly achievable trough fraud and lies! The explanation for these lies, given by both Claudia Luciani (listen to the recording) and Irina Gidikova, in the presence of John Shipman and Willers Rabea from the Directorate of Democratic Governance, was more than absurd. Namely, they said that they had been confused and told a lie amidst the stress because they wondered what exact explanation they could offer for the unprecedented censoring of the video!!! We think that such behavior does not suit senior officials of the EU Council. Unfortunately, the shameful scene did not remain hidden from the audience and the journalists at the forum.

Trying to clarify what exact "technical problem" prevented the uploading of the video recording, we approached the "Multimedia" office. They explained how both camcorders, for unknown reasons, produced corrupted files at the same time, and technicians were trying to retrieve them. When we asked where to turn for more information, we were referred back to Irena Gidikova, responsible organizer of the forum from the Directorate General of Democracy, Democratic Initiatives Department.

Our hints that we intended to give a quick press conference, yielded quick results. Shortly before 3:00 pm, Atanas Tchobanov and John Shipman talked with Mrs. Claudia Luciani, Director of the Directorate Democratic Governance. She openly admitted that in fact no "technical problem" was the reason for censoring the entire LAB. Luciani said bluntly that the Secretary General of the Council of Europe has decided the video should not be uploaded, because what has been said in this panel was against the rules of the Council and was creating legal problems as names of certain personalities have been mentioned. This is how, in "the most democratic way,” not because of technology glitches, the problem was prevented from spreading online.

{audio}claudia-luciani-coe-29-11-13.mp3{/audio}

To be continued...

Cartoonist Aurélien Cantou catched the moment when Mrs. Claudia Luciani announced there is no technical problem, but a censorship decision by the Secretary General