Why do the Bulgarian outgoing politicians fear satirical Facebook accounts?

Bulgaria’s long-running debate over rule of law and freedom of expression has taken a peculiar turn. While the country remains gripped by outrage over the so-called “Petrohan case” – a brutal sixfold murder that has dominated public attention for two weeks – the outgoing interior minister, Daniel Mitov, has largely vanished from the public radar on the matter. Instead, he has resurfaced in a far more controversial context: the state’s attempt to identify the administrator behind a popular satirical Facebook page known as “Kopeikin”.

“Kopeikin” is a derogatory nickname used in Bulgaria for Kostadin Kostadinov, the leader of the pro-Russian nationalist party Vazrazhdane (Europe of Sovereign Nations). The term comes from the kopeck – a small unit of Russian currency, and is used sarcastically to imply financial, political or ideological dependence on Russia. In Bulgarian public discourse, the nickname functions as political mockery: it frames Kostadinov as someone who is “cheaply bought” or metaphorically paid in kopecks for promoting pro-Moscow positions, particularly his opposition to the EU, NATO and Western policies.

The page Kopeikin, followed by some 48,000 users, regularly publishes memes, videos and collages mocking those in power and sharply criticising pro-Russian narratives in Bulgarian politics. According to a written parliamentary reply by Mitov, Bulgaria’s organised crime directorate, GDBOP, has been asked to help trace the IP addresses used to manage the page – a move that has immediately triggered accusations of intimidation and selective policing.

The investigation was prompted by a post showing a man in the town of Panagyurishte tearing down and trampling a Russian flag. The accompanying caption described the act as a protest against Russia’s war in Ukraine and ended with the slogans “Glory to Ukraine” and “Long live Bulgaria”. The post claimed that the individual was a Bulgarian volunteer who had fought on the front line in Ukraine.

The parliamentary question that triggered Mitov’s response came from Stoyan Taslakov, an MP from Vazrazhdane. In his submission, Taslakov did not explicitly mention that the destroyed flag was Russian, referring instead to “an attack on someone else’s property marked by exceptional audacity and cynicism”. He argued that pages sharing and approving the video were effectively inciting a crime – itself a criminal offence, in his words.

Mitov’s reply confirmed that the perpetrator had been identified, questioned and issued with a warning protocol. The individual, the minister added, is already serving a three-year suspended sentence in an unrelated case. CCTV footage has been collected and the file is to be forwarded to the regiaonal prosecutor in Pazardzhik. Crucially, Mitov also disclosed that assistance had been requested from GDBOP to establish the IP addresses of the administrator of a social media page named “Kopeikin”.

The focus on satire has raised eyebrows, not least because Vazrazhdane itself has been associated with far more serious incidents. The party has openly displayed Russian flags at its rallies and has been linked to the vandalisation of the House of Europe in Sofia, which hosts several European institutions in the country. Yet attempts to lift parliamentary immunities in that case have stalled, fuelling claims of double standards in law enforcement.

The administrator of “Kopeikin”, who spoke to Bulgarian news site Sega, partner of EUalive, in a written interview, dismissed the investigation as absurd. He said he had not been contacted by authorities and insisted that locating him would be trivial if they genuinely wanted to. “I post through my mobile network. If they wanted to find me, it would take them five minutes,” he said, adding that he would cooperate fully if approached.

According to the interview, he believes the video was merely a pretext. “There is no logic in targeting me for sharing a clip of someone else’s actions. I share dozens of videos every day that are already online. I am not their author,” he told Sega. In his view, the real aim is to identify and pressure critical voices. He said he has received numerous threats since launching the page more than three years ago, mostly from what he described as “fanatised Putin supporters or fake accounts”.

The case has also drawn reactions from mainstream pro-European politicians. Ivaylo Mirchev, co-chair of Democratic Bulgaria, commented that the authorities should “not get too carried away”, recalling how a satirical website parodying sanctioned oligarch Delyan Peevski was previously taken offline after a direct call from GDBOP to its hosting provider. Mirchev has since submitted a formal parliamentary question seeking clarity on the criteria used by the interior ministry when identifying administrators of online pages.

For observers, the timing is telling. While public confidence in Bulgaria’s security institutions remains fragile, the unresolved Petrohan murders continue to cast a shadow over the interior ministry’s credibility. Against that backdrop, the decision to devote resources to tracking a satirical Facebook page risks reinforcing the perception that the state is quicker to pursue critics than to deliver justice in cases of violent crime.

More broadly, the episode feeds into long-standing concerns voiced by Brussels and domestic watchdogs alike: that Bulgaria’s institutions struggle with consistency, proportionality and political neutrality. Satire, even when provocative, is protected speech under European standards. Treating it as a security threat not only invites legal scrutiny but also raises a deeper question about democratic resilience.

As the “Kopeikin” administrator told Sega, he sees himself as “Mr Nobody” – an ordinary citizen with no party affiliation, but firmly pro-European. If his account is accurate, the state’s pursuit of anonymity rather than accountability may end up amplifying, rather than silencing, the voices it seeks to contain.

Bulgarians will vote in snap elections, most probably on 19 April. Opinion polls indicate that voters will most likely send in opposition the current oligarch-friendly government coalition.

Caption: Screenshot from the Facebook page “Kopeikin,” known for its satirical content and sharp criticism of the government and pro-Russian narratives in Bulgarian politics. The page became the subject of an investigation after the Interior Ministry requested GDBOP’s assistance in identifying its administrator.