The leader of the ITN Slavi Trifonov finally lost the lawsuit against the former co-chair of the PP Kiril Petkov in a case for insult and defamation worth 50,000 leva. The Supreme Court of Cassation has refused to allow the case to be re-examined, effectively confirming the decision of the Sofia Court of Appeal, reported the newspaper "Sega".
The dispute between the two politicians began after Petkov's statements on June 13, 2022. Then, in the context of the departure of ITN from the ruling coalition, he used terms such as “backstage“, “mafia“, “backstage players“ and “conquered state“, which according to Trifonov damaged his prestige and good name.
The Court of Appeal, however, accepted that Petkov's words represented a political assessment and personal opinion, and not specific factual statements that could be qualified as defamation. The magistrates also noted that the term “backstage“ had long entered the public and political vocabulary and was often used without clear and specific content.
According to the court, a large part of the expressions were not even directly directed at Trifonov, while the rest fell within the scope of permissible criticism of public figures. In their reasoning, the magistrates emphasized that politicians should show a higher degree of tolerance towards public and political pressure, as their activities are subject to increased public interest.
Following the appellate court's decision, Trifonov requested that the case reach the Supreme Court of Cassation, with his defense raising 16 questions related to the interpretation of the law and case law. The Supreme Court of Cassation, however, ruled that there were no grounds for a cassation appeal and that there were no serious violations or obvious irregularities in the judicial act.