Bulgarian experts: legislative changes on banks threaten freedom of expression

The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) requested the changes on June 30th, in the wake of a run on Sofia-based Corporate Commercial Bank and First Investment Bank a few days earlier. That was triggered by the dissemination of "misleading information and malicious rumours" concerning the health of Bulgarian banks and was part of an "organised criminal attack," whose aim was to destabilise the system and the country, according to the Central Bank.

Under the BNB-proposed amendments, which were approved by the Parliament's legal commission just two days later, anyone who spreads "misleading or false information or any other information about any bank or financial institution" that causes turmoil and panic, could get a jail-term of between two and five years. Furthermore, anyone involved in such activities would face a prison sentence of five to ten years, plus a fine in the range of BGN 5,000-10,000, if they cause "significant damages" to another person or become a source of "substantial illegal income".

The recent events did point indeed to a need of having in place "serious penalties" for actions that can cause turmoil in Bulgaria's financial and banking system and threaten citizens' savings, Alexander Kashumov, who heads the legal team at Program Access to Information (PAI), a Sofia-based NGO, said in an analysis, published on Bivol.bg on July 5th. But he also warned that the amendments that were approved so swiftly by the legal commission, without any public debate, pose "serious challenges to freedom of speech" if enacted.

"There must be boundaries for those villains who want to destabilise the system," Kashumov, who is a prominent rights activist, wrote. "However, they may be insiders in the system, and then a similar text will protect them instead of protecting citizens and stability."

He also criticised the vague and imprecise wording of the texts that fail to take into consideration "basic standards of freedom to seek, receive and disseminate information". The lack of a clear definition of a term like "panic," and especially the elusive "other information" that leave room for free interpretation were viewed as problematic.

This could be used by officials "to stifle legitimate criticism or prevent the dissemination of information that society has legitimate interest to know," or even for effectively imposing "a total ban" on the disclosure of any information related to banking in Bulgaria, Kashumov said.

The envisioned sanctions will encourage self-censorship, he also noted, arguing that in the face of a potential prison sentence, "journalists and insiders, who have learned about fraud or crime, will be silenced. And society will not be able to debate, in a number of cases, even real data on the state of the banks and the system."

The Council of Electronic Media (CEM) also stressed that the legislative measures, as proposed, pose "a threat to media freedom and inhibit the performance of their [medias'] basic functions".

The Association of European Journalists-Bulgaria described the changes as scandalous and an attempt at imposing censorship on any information related to banks in Bulgaria.

The use of such a vague phrase as "other information" effectively implies that journalists would be able to write or speak only positively about banks. Otherwise, they should keep silent. They would thus be "divested of their key function to unveil and expose wrongdoings in this sphere of public life," the Association noted.