site.btaNational Bureau Checks 202 Alerts, Finds that 37 Persons Were Surveilled

October 7 (BTA) - Out of 257 alerts received between May 1 and September 30, 2021, Bulgaria's National Bureau for Control over Special Surveillance Means has so far completed checks of 202 alerts and checks of the remaining 55 are in progress, according to an announcement published on the Bureau's website on Thursday. Of the 202 cases, the Bureau found that special surveillance means had been requested, authorized and deployed in respect of 37 persons, including two persons who had been surveilled unlawfully.

During that period, the Bureau was approached by 116 citizens alleging that special surveillance means had been irregularly applied in respect of them, including 64 alerts from persons who suspected they had been unlawfully surveilled in their capacity as leaders or members of political parties and participants in the anti-government protests in the summer of 2020.

In addition to that, acting on its own initiative, the National Bureau had checked 141 cases of presumed subjects of surveillance, responding to a letter from the Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee of Inquiry into Facts and Circumstances in the Use of Tear Gas, Use of Force and Aids by the Ministry of Interior, Committed on 10 July and 2 September 2020 against Protesters, and into Facts and Circumstances Related to the Application of Special Surveillance Means against Protesters, Opposition Leaders and Members of Opposition Political Parties.