Leading Bulgarian anti-nuclear activist receives death threat

Prague / Sofia, 8 March 2005. One of the leading people in the opposition against the planned Bulgarian nuclear power station Belene, Mrs. Albena Simeonova, 40 [1], has received a threat on her life. Greenpeace, supported by other international organisations like Bankwatch, Friends of the Earth Europe, WISE/NIRS and others, have contacted the Bulgarian government to urge them to do everything possible to secure the safety of Mrs. Simeonova.

After having received several anonymous threats over telephone over the last months, two men came approached Albena Simeonova personally and threatened to kill her if she would not leave her home region of Nikopol, and give up her opposition against the Belene nuclear power plant. The men claimed to speak on behalf of the TIM trade group. This group is rumoured to be granted the contract for security work and supply delivery at Belene. Police investigations into the matter have in the mean time started. Mrs. Simeonova is one of the largest organic farmers in Bulgaria and her fields are all in the 30 km zone around the projected Belene plant. She is a well known critic of the Belene project, and for these efforts and her other outstanding environmental work she received in 1996 the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize.

“I know who the people involved are, and am afraid I need to take the threat very seriously,” said Mrs. Simeonova. She added: “But this does not mean I will stop my resistance against Belene nor my work on organic farming in the region around it. Belene is a threat and completely unnecessary for Bulgaria and for the region I live in.” In the early 1990s, Albena Simeonova was already one of the leaders of a strong movement in Bulgaria that stopped plans for building a nuclear power station near Belene in 1992 [2]. The plans for building were revived in 2003, and Mrs. Simeonova was one of the first people to ask attention for the problems that the project would create. She alerted national and international organisations on the upcoming plans and since has been one of the motors behind resistance against Belene

“Already in the early 1990s it was clear that you could not build a nuclear power station in a seismic active area like here. But on top of that, there are so many alternatives!” says Simeonova, “My country is one of the least energy efficient countries in Europe, and it has so much to offer in renewable energy. But our energy policy is governed by short sighted political and financial interests. Because the arguments fail, obviously mafia practices must help push through the project.”

Environmental organisations, including WISE/NIRS, Greenpeace, Bankwatch, Friends of the Earth Europe and ELAW directly moved into gear to support Mrs. Simeonova, shortly after she received the threat. Jan Beranek, director of WISE / NIRS Brno: “WISE supports Mrs. Simeonova in her work and calls strongly on the Bulgarian authorities to secure her safety. We also call on the Bulgarian government to move the discussion on its energy policy out of the realm of mafia practices. You cannot take a decision to build a nuclear power plant on the basis of manipulations and threats.”

Tomasz Terlecky, director of the international watchdog organisation Bankwatch says: “We are shocked to hear about this threat. When defenders of the environment are threatened like this, theto discuss the real arguments is also seriously threatened.”

“Someone who stands up for the environment and her country like Albena Simeonova should be honoured by her country, not threatened by thugs. We call on the Bulgarian government to listen to the arguments she brings forward,” says Martin Rochol, director of Friends of the Earth Europe.

The Belene project already faced earlier accusations of manipulations. Greenpeace and the World Information Service on Energy (WISE/NIRS) released a report in autumn 2004, pointing out manipulations during the Environmental Impact Assessment procedure [3]. The Canadian nuclear power builder AECL threatened several times to withdraw its interest in the project because of manipulation of the planning procedures towards a competing supplier. The tenders for the choice of consultants for the Environmental Impact Assessment and for the architect and builder of Belene were under wide criticism of lack of transparency given to the Parsons group, a US based energy consultant with close relations to Bulgaria’s energy ministry.

Greenpeace was exposed to a slander campaign in some media in Bulgaria after it joined Friends of the Earth Bulgaria / Ekoglasnost in a court case against a decision of the Bulgarian government to build Belene.

“This threat to Albena Simeonova is a clear attack on Bulgarian democracy, unfortunately fitting in the pattern of manipulations that surround the Belene project”, concludes Jan Beranek: “The first steps taken by the authorities to prevent this from happening again are a hopeful sign. Bulgaria must see that its hope is in people that care for the country and the future of its children; people like Albena Simeonova.”