Some of them had the luck to be only threatened, others received physical harm and thirds had to pay with their own lives. .
In the history of Bulgarian investigative journalism Christo Kalchev was the first one who pluck up courage to talk and write about the mafia and corrupted government. He was born on 11th of August 1944 in Sofia and died on 22th of March 2006. Until 1990 he was a member of the Union of Bulgarian Writers and after that worked as an editor of "Democracy's" section "Rubicon". (http://novinar.bg/news/hristo-kalchev-strah-me-e-ot-bolkata_MTQyODs0MQ==.html, Vanya Ovcharova, 16th Oct 2009) Kalchev is famous for his books, which uncovered the ugly truth about Bulgarian mafia. He is also the creator of the term "mutra", which means mobster in Bulgarian. In his publications he clearly stated the names of the mobsters and in that way jeopardized not only his, but also the lives of his dear ones. In an interview for "Novinar" he admits that not only he had been threatened to be killed, but that even he was tried to. In another interview for "Monitor", the journalist asks him why did he continue to write about the underground world, he replied that he found his work as a mission, as a dedication.( http://www.monitor.bg/article?id=61973 Elena Krasteva 26.11.2005) Christo Kalchev had been convicted of defamation 10 times, but every time the court justified him. The reason he stayed safe and sound all that time was that he publically warned all "members" of the underground that if they killed him it would be predictable and senseless. Everyone would know who had done it and agencies like INTERPOL would prosecute them and put them in prison. (http://novinar.bg/news/hristo-kalchev-ako-me-ubiete-stavam-svetetc_MTg3MjsyNA==.html Meglena Slavova and Velislava Panova, 23rd of March, 2006) .
A prominent reporter who had to pay severely for her investigations is Anna Zarkova.
