Case studies and articles

• Q&A: Communist Secret Files Threaten Politicians, interview with Alexander Kashumov before IPSnews, Oct, 02, 2007

• Access to Information Row in Bulgaria, published in Sofia Echo, March 26, 2007
On March 14, Alexander Kashumov, left, head of the legal department of Access to Information Programme Foundation (AIPF), Georgi Lozanov from Bulgarian Media Coalition, Gergana Zhouleva, AIPF's executive director and Svetla Kostadinova, executive director of Institute for Market Economics called on the immediate withdrawal of proposed amendments to the Access to Public Information Act.

• Bulgaria's painful past still hidden, but for how long? by Matthew Brunwasser, International Herald Tribune, June 2, 2006

• Power and Accountability, published in Sofia Echo, May 08, 2006
A speech given by Alexander Kashumov on April 21, 2006 at a debate about investigative journalism organised by the Bulgarian Media Coalition.

• Behind Closed Doors: Secrecy in International Financial Institutions, 2006
This publication of the Global Transparency Initiative documents the results of a pilot study in which requests for information were submitted to the African Development Bank; European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; European Investment Bank; Inter-American Development Bank; International Monetary Fund and World Bank. A total of 120 requests for information were submitted to these IFIs by civil society organisations in Argentina, Bulgaria, Mexico, Slovakia and South Africa. The case study for Bulgaria was written by Nikolay Marekov, AIP. (Acrobat PDF 488 Kb)

• Bulgaria - The Microsoft Contract, Did the Bulgarian Minister of State Administration pay “Microsoft” Corporation out of his own pocket? by Gergana Jouleva and Alexander Kashumov.
An essay in defence of civil liberties and democracy to mark the launch of the European Civil iberties Network in October 2005; Published in The War on Freedom and Democracy, edited by Tony Bunyan, ECLN, 2006 http://www.spokesmanbooks.com/War%20on%20Democ2.htm

• Freedom of Information Act Discussed at AUBG - information about FOI workshops, held in the American University in Bulgaria. Flash news, October 23, 2005

• Bulgaria Open to Access to Information - information about FOI workshops, held in the American University in Bulgaria. Lyubomir Ivanov, de facto, October 20, 2005

• Bulgaria - The Access to Information Program: Fighting for Transparency during the Democratic Transition, 2002 (updated June 16, 2004) by Gergana Jouleva
Changes in the information regime in Bulgaria have been slow and incremental since the fall of the communists in 1989. But the work of the Access to Information Programme, an NGO that has been at the forefront of the freedom of information movement in that country, has succeeded in opening up what was once one of the most secretive and authoritarian states in Eastern Europe http://www.freedominfo.org/features/20040616.htm

• Bulgaria: Appealing to the Authorities by Gergana Jouleva
Since the enactment of a Bulgarian law on access to information in July 2000, thousands of requests for information have been filed by the public, a number of which have led to court cases. Gergana Jouleva1 gives some examples of the new law in action ( Acrobat PDF 20 Kb).

• National Security and the Right to Information in Bulgaria by Aleksander Kashumov
Published in National Security and Open Government: Striking the Right Balance, B. D. Walawender & A. Colonna (eds.), Syracuse: Campbell Public Affairs Institute, 2003, http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/campbell/CPAINews/Bookshelf.htm

• What does NATO expect? Article by Alasdair Roberts in Dnevnik newspaper 12.06.2003

• The Right to Know is Gaining around the World article by Thomas S. Blanton, International Herald Tribune 2003-10-11

• Unfinished Business article by Gergana Jouleva in Freedom House NGO News - issue 20/2002

• Access to information Litigation Campaign in Bulgaria
by Alexander Kashumov
Published in The Right to Know, Right to Live, edited by Richard Calland and Alison Tilley, released in 2002 by ODAC, http://www.opendemocracy.org.za/documents/section/1

• The NEC case
On 02. 05. 1997 with Decision #457, the Council of Ministers (CM) placed the National Electric Company (NEC) on the list of government agencies and other entities whose information should be classified as state secret and that are protected by special security units. The request to the Council of Ministers for such a decision was justified as a step towards solving particular issues of production security and the security of energy distribution as well as issues of limiting access to the energy-production units, energy supplies, information of cases of bad management, property damages, thefts and misuse of materials and finally securing the secrecy of classified documents.

• The Auditor General's refusal to give information
Razgrad journalists and local NGO representatives were not provided with information on the results of the Auditor General audit on the social benefits distribution. The means were provided by one of the EU programs for supporting the socially vulnerable people..