Maria Ilieva: Dear Mr. Minister, society expects you to take real action toward the release of Bay Riban’s sheep.

Dear Mr. Minister of Agriculture and Food,

Society expects from you, as a person well acquainted with the case of the infection in Bay Riban’s herd and having been on site, in cold and mud:

• 👉 TO take real action toward the release of the “juicy, beautiful, lively, well-kept and playful animals that give birth every day”;
• 👉 TO “calm the people, protect them and take care of them with the care of a good steward, especially in times of distress”;
• 👉 TO demonstrate “competence and your concern for the animals, the sector, the state and its people”;
• 👉 TO be a “guarantor of citizens’ trust”;
• 👉 TO “restart the state in this ministry, clear out the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) and kick down the stairs all 150 people in leadership positions there”;
• 👉 TO “demand resignations where they are necessary”;
• 👉 TO “reveal the truth and win public trust”;
• 👉 TO stop the theft of European subsidies and the GERB mafia in Velingrad.

SO THAT:

• ✔️ we believe you;
• ✔️ you are a guarantor and pillar of truth;
• ✔️ you stand in defense of the rights and support of livestock farmers;
• ✔️ you inform society;
• ✔️ you help justice prevail.

We expect you to begin today, because there is no time — as you promised in your address before us, the citizens.

And so that we may all say:

“BRAVO” to this minister!

Thank you.

P.S. The text in quotation marks is a citation of statements by Ivan Hristanov.

We present to you the edited and formatted transcript of Ivan Hristanov’s participation in various television programs:

The Situation on the Ground and the Missing State

Ivan Hristanov: I went to the site and for three days in the cold, at −5°C, with rain and snow, I stayed there to personally observe everything. And what did I see? Because television and paid commentators can very easily distort the truth. I am not in Velingrad because I need to be in Sofia to give interviews so that we can reveal the truth and fight for justice. We see that unfortunately national media present information one-sidedly, with outright speculation and, sadly, direct lies, both from the minister and the institution of the Ministry of Agriculture, as well as from the director of the BFSA (Bulgarian Food Safety Agency).

Host: You also requested the resignation of the head of the BFSA and the Minister of Agriculture, as we saw?

Ivan Hristanov: We requested their resignations this week; most likely tomorrow we will request them again and will continue to make this position public. It is entirely possible — at the moment we are working on a report to the prosecutor’s office regarding criminal inaction and criminal negligence by the director of the BFSA. So most likely tomorrow the request for Patarinski’s resignation will also be accompanied by reports to the prosecutor’s office. In Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency — I say this with full responsibility — has some of the best specialists in the world. These people are suppressed, crushed, threatened.

Host: Why?

Ivan Hristanov: They are pushed into silence so they do not speak, because if they open their mouths, the state will fall. The whole cabinet will fall if they start talking, and they are constantly threatened. Seven months of work… That’s what I had — seven months of war with fake animals, fake vaccines, the plundering of the national prophylaxis program, incinerators, “Kapitan Andreevo,” parking schemes, and much more. Total war — we crushed them. These damned mafiosi no longer knew where they were.

Host: That would mean we should be seeing dead animals every day. Ten, twenty, thirty…

Ivan Hristanov: Yes. For three days I did not see a single one. I saw juicy, lively, beautiful, well-kept animals, playful, in excellent condition, giving birth before our eyes. We saw lambs being born — three, four, five, six per day — without abortions, without stillborn lambs, nothing.

Actions of the Minister and the Institutions

Ivan Hristanov: We have a minister who went there last night and said: “Look, either I will send the gendarmerie, I will call the Minister of Interior and he will deal with you through the gendarmerie, or accept from me 1 million leva in compensation, I will spend 150,000 leva to disinfect the facilities, and I will not revoke your permits under Article 137.” And that is extortion! That is extortion — do you realize that? The minister has absolutely no authority to decide such things. The law tells him he must compensate the farmers. The law tells him he must disinfect the premises. The law says what must be done if there is indeed plague. Yes, the gendarmerie must isolate the site and humane destruction of the animals must follow. He has nothing to decide. His role is to be a guarantor of truth, justice, and humane treatment toward people and animals.

Host: Is it possible that specialists on the ground are paralyzed and afraid to act because the minister and the director are not guarantors?

Ivan Hristanov: It is possible, yes.

Host: Is it possible the leadership of the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency and the minister are not just incompetent but indifferent and arrogant?

Ivan Hristanov: Yes. We see signs of such behavior.

Host: And is it possible there is a complete absence of professionalism on the ground?

Ivan Hristanov: Not absence of professionalism — absence of the BFSA! Yes, we verified it. For three consecutive days I did not see a single team taking care of the people and animals, tracing the infection source, isolating the area, or preventing spread.

Humane Treatment of Animals and Institutional Abdication

Ivan Hristanov: The first thing — people must be reassured. We cannot remain silent witnesses in a case where farmers feel the state is waging war against them. The state is obliged to protect and care for its citizens, not treat them as criminals or fraudsters.

Host: But farmers are not letting them in.

Ivan Hristanov: At the moment they are not. But earlier that problem did not exist. It arose because the state abdicated its core duty to care for its citizens, especially the vulnerable ones, especially in times of disaster. This means the agency must be cleared out — 150 people in leadership must be thrown out because this is absolutely unacceptable.

Host: Is there a chance the animals will not be euthanized — we are talking about 1,700 living beings?

Ivan Hristanov: It is very good you said “living beings.” Humanity requires that even if animals are sick, they must be treated humanely. I see in the behavior of both the minister and the director inhumane attitude — as if tomorrow they will enter with rifles and shoot them.

Pasture Schemes, Subsidies, and Political Protection

Ivan Hristanov: I do not like conspiracy theories, but I see people there with very small herds declaring thousands of hectares. Declared pasture hectares mean large European subsidies. There are people with 50 sheep declaring nearly 6,000 hectares, while those with 1,700 animals receive only 0.7 hectares on bare rocks.

Host: Which political force is protecting them?

Ivan Hristanov: GERB. It is obvious.

Host: How is it obvious?

Ivan Hristanov: Velingrad and GERB. Look at the voting patterns. We also have internal information. I see specific companies that declared large pastures and sponsor GERB — visible in the Audit Office reports. We want to see who receives the most pastures in Pazardzhik region. Let the ministry report that publicly.

Host: What will you do next to protect farmers and the animals?

Ivan Hristanov: We continue with institutional tools — political pressure, demands for resignations, and one equally important instrument: informing society. The greatest tool for achieving justice is the truth, and we must reveal the truth.

Host: …the truth.

Ivan Hristanov: …and we must reveal the truth.