Bivol Receives Environmental Award for “Dunes Gate”

Asen Yordanov at the awards ceremony

The Biodiversity Foundation awarded Bivol with the prize for best journalistic material relating to the protection of Bulgarian wildlife for 2012-2013.

Bivol was nominated for its outstanding journalistic investigation in the so-called “Dunes Gate.” The award was presented at a ceremony in Sofia’s Central Park, Borisova Gradina on October 12.

Dunes Gate is a term created by Bivol to expose the ugly corruption scam for construction on the last preserved sand dunes near the Black Sea town of Nessebar.

"All governments consistently reach for natural resources, committing breaches of laws and regulations, because they are not guided by the interests of the State and society, but by those of oligarchic circles that operate behind the scenes. Bivol reveals these crimes and fights them since for us this is not only a profession, but also cause," said the director of the site Asen Yordanov at the ceremony.

The journalist from Dnevnik.bg, Bossilena Melteva, also received an award for her overall work on environmental issues.

Eco activist Toma Belev was among the recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Алберта Алкалай и Тома Белев на церемонията по награждаването

Investigations in “Dunes Gate,” made by Bivol in late 2012 and early 2013, showed that the spiteful procedures for the "absorption" of lucrative public lands by persons close to power began during the term of the Three-Way Coalition and were finalized by GERB. Published documents and facts irrefutably proved this continuity.

The protagonists of “Dunes Gate” still enjoy immunity under the present government, which even tried to recruit the "mastermind" of the scam, Kalin Tiholov, as Minister. The owners of SLE Group, the company which began the destruction of the dunes and which is linked to former Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov, remain undisturbed by tax authorities and the prosecution, even though their sudden wealth is absolutely inexplicable. Prosecutors pardoned former Member of the Parliament from GERB Emil Dimitrov after it was irrefutably proven that a company registered to his mother has plundered public land; built on it a pool and then started a procedure to legalize it under the same scam as “Dunes Gate.”

Nature protection is central to our website as it is a significant public resource, generating the interest of empowered criminals. Over the years Bivol revealed many abuses of Bulgarian nature - from our early investigations about Strandzha and the Coral beach to topics related to the Pirin Mountain, the ski resorts, Irakli, “Dunes Gate” and Ropotamo. Readers can get acquainted below with our major publications on these topics (in Bulgarian):

Dunes Gate:

https://www.bivol.bg/dunigate.html;

https://www.bivol.bg/riosv-burgas.html;

https://bivol.bg/oresharski-obrach-gagauzov.html

Ropotamo:

https://www.bivol.bg/component/search/?searchword=%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%BE&ordering=&searchphrase=all

Coral:

https://bivol.bg/koral-zaharieva.html;

https://bivol.bg/moratorium-chernomorie.html;

https://bivol.bg/blatno-kokiche-koral.html;

Other publications:

Pirin: 

https://bivol.bg/component/search/?searchword=Пирин&ordering=&searchphrase=all;

Irakli: 

https://bivol.bg/irakli-emona2000.html

Winter resorts: 

https://bivol.bg/forest1bis.html

 

NPP Rezovo:

https://bivol.bg/aec-igneada.html;

https://bivol.bg/tec-aec-igneada.html;

https://bivol.bg/tec-rezovo-stop.html;

Strandza:

https://bivol.bg/mister-strandjagate.html;

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