30-05-2025
Judge 'leaks woman's photos in Telegram group for sex workers'
A judge has been accused of leaking a woman's pictures into a Telegram forum for sex workers, triggering a wave of sexual abuse and threats.
Anna Adamova, a lawyer and an academic, became the victim of a scandal that has shaken Bulgaria's judiciary to its core.
What began when she was a witness in a court case about drunk driving eventually spiralled into a nightmare.
Hundreds and hundreds of men started calling and texting the woman on her personal mobile, asking for sex services.
Among the messages were even graphic nude pictures.
Eventually, Adamova discovered her pictures and personal information on a Telegram group for prostitution with almost 5,000 members.
One post about the victim read: 'I was told she like it in the back door.'
She described it as 'around-the-clock' harassment, telling Bulgaria's Nova TV: 'It turned out that my photos and my phone number were posted in hidden, secret groups on Telegram for prostitutes.
'Hundreds of unknown men called me around the clock and messaged me naked photos and what not.'
An investigation by the ministry of interior's cybercrime unit identified the person behind the doxing as Velizar Kostadinov – the judge on the drunk driving case in which Adamova was a witness.
Adamova had already been the victim of several attacks by him – first, the judge is alleged to have sent an email to her employer, demanding that her role is reviewed and also accusing her of a 'lack of positive moral qualities.'
Kostadinov then sent another letter, this time to the Bulgarian Institute of State and Law, demanding that her doctoral degree is reconsidered.
This is when Adamova was forced to take action and she reported all the attacks to the TV station.
It was after the initial TV report that Adamova's information was leaked on Telegram.
The alleged sabotage stemmed from the drunk driving case Kostadinov ruled on.
He acquitted Georgi Gyorev, the suspect who Adamova claimed to have seen driving drunk in the outskirts of the Bulgarian capital Sofia.
The judge described Adamova's eyewitness account as 'biased' and sided with the defendant's wife and a friend of the accused, who was not even at the scene. More Trending
Appalled by how the case was handled, Adamova made a complaint to the Bulgarian Supreme Judicial Council.
This is the move that allegedly triggered the series of attempts to ruin her reputation and her career.
Kostadinov so far denies being the author of the defamatory Telegram posts which authorities found were sent from his personal number.
He claims that someone else did it using his phone as he does not have a PIN number.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE: Dog walker 'beaten to death by man living off-grid while being hunted by police'
MORE: Russian captain of container ship that crashed into tanker denies manslaughter
MORE: Paul Doyle 'on the verge of tears' in court as he's accused of driving into Liverpool fans
