Bulgaria Defamation Laws: Civil, Criminal & Defences

In Bulgaria, defamation is both a criminal offence and a civil wrong, but the criminal offences carry only fines, not prison. The Criminal Code (Nakazatelen kodeks) punishes insult (obida, Article 146) and defamation (kleveta, Article 147), and the Obligations and Contracts Act lets the person harmed sue for damages.

Is defamation civil, criminal, or both in Bulgaria?

It is both. Bulgaria keeps insult and defamation as criminal offences while also allowing civil claims. The Criminal Code, in its chapter on offences against honour and dignity, defines insult (obida) in Article 146, defamation (kleveta) in Article 147, and aggravated forms of both in Article 148. On the civil side, the Obligations and Contracts Act (Zakon za zadalzheniyata i dogovorite) provides the general tort rule in Article 45, under which everyone must repair the damage they culpably cause another, and Article 52, under which the court fixes compensation for non-pecuniary damage by equity. The Constitution frames the balance: Article 39 protects freedom of expression, Article 40 protects the free press and forbids censorship, and Article 41 protects the right to information, while each provides that these rights may not be used to harm the rights and reputation of others. A defamatory statement can therefore lead to both a private criminal case and a civil claim.

What are the criminal penalties for defamation in Bulgaria?

The penalties are fines, not prison. A 2000 reform of the Criminal Code removed imprisonment for insult and defamation, replacing it with fines and, in many cases, public reproof (obshtestveno poritsanie), a published censure. As the Code now stands, insult under Article 146(1) is punishable by a fine of 1,000 to 3,000 leva, and the court may also impose public reproof. Defamation under Article 147(1), which covers disclosing a disgraceful fact about another or imputing a crime to them, is punishable by a fine of 3,000 to 7,000 leva together with public reproof. The aggravated forms in Article 148, which apply where the offence is committed publicly, through the media, or against an official in connection with their duties, raise the fine to 3,000 to 10,000 leva for insult and to 5,000 to 15,000 leva for defamation, each with public reproof. None of these provisions allows a prison sentence.

Watch out: Bulgaria abolished imprisonment for these offences in 2000, leaving only fines and public reproof. The current floors are 1,000 leva for insult and 3,000 leva for defamation; the figures should always be confirmed against the latest Criminal Code text.

How does civil liability work?

Civil liability runs through general tort law in the Obligations and Contracts Act. Article 45 sets out the basic rule that a person who culpably causes damage to another must repair it, and in tort cases fault is presumed, so the defendant must rebut it. Article 52 directs the court to determine compensation for non-pecuniary (moral) damage by equity, weighing all the concrete circumstances of the case, and there is no statutory cap on the amount. The Supreme Court of Cassation has held that in defamation cases the ordinary presumption of fault is adjusted for journalists, so that liability is not strict and responsible journalism is protected. Employers and media owners can also be liable for content produced by their journalists under the Act's rules on liability for others. A civil claim can be pursued separately from, or joined to, the private criminal case.

What defences and privileges apply?

The central statutory defence is truth. Under Article 147(2) of the Criminal Code, the person charged with defamation is not punished if the truth of the disclosed circumstances, or of an imputed crime, is proven. Proving the statement true is therefore a complete defence to defamation. Bulgarian courts read the honour offences against the constitutional free-expression guarantees in Articles 39 to 41 and against the case law of the European Court of Human Rights under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects responsible reporting on matters of public interest and allows wider criticism of public officials. The Supreme Court of Cassation has recognised a good-faith, responsible-journalism standard in this area. As with other systems, value judgments and opinion are treated differently from assertions of fact, since only facts can be proven true or false.

What is the limitation period?

There are separate criminal and civil clocks. On the criminal side, prosecution of insult and defamation is time-barred under the residual category of the Criminal Code limitation rule (Article 80), which sets a period for offences not carrying heavier penalties. Because these are privately prosecuted offences, the victim must also file the private complaint within the statutory window, generally measured from when the victim learned of the offence and the perpetrator under the Criminal Procedure Code. On the civil side, the general limitation period for a tort claim under the Obligations and Contracts Act runs five years, generally from when the injured party learned of the damage and the person who caused it. Anyone facing a deadline should confirm the current periods against the statute, since the criminal and civil rules differ.

How is online defamation treated?

The same offences apply to statements made online. Bulgaria does not have a separate internet-defamation crime; instead, the aggravated form in Article 148 reaches online publication. The 2023 amendment broadened the provision from printed matter to mass media or other means, which captures websites and social media, and the public-commission element of Article 148 covers public online posts. As a result, defamation spread online is generally treated as an aggravated offence carrying the higher fine. On the civil side, the personality-protection rules of the Obligations and Contracts Act apply equally to online statements, so a claimant can seek compensation for harm caused by content posted on the internet.

How do you bring a defamation claim in Bulgaria?

Procedure reflects the private nature of these crimes. Under Article 161 of the Criminal Code, insult and defamation are prosecuted on the victim's private complaint, not by the state prosecutor. In practice the victim files a written private complaint (tuzhba) directly with the competent Regional Court (Rayonen sad), identifying the parties and the circumstances and paying the court fee, and acts as a private prosecutor in the case. The complaint must be filed within the statutory window, generally six months from learning of the offence and the offender under the Criminal Procedure Code. Civil damages can be claimed either as a joined civil claim within the private prosecution or in a separate civil action under Articles 45 and 52 of the Obligations and Contracts Act. This is general information about Bulgarian law, not legal advice for any specific dispute.