Bulgarian Teacher Sues German TV

A Bulgarian teacher is to sue German ARD television over a report accusing her of helping to smuggle children to Germany to supply a pedophile network, the BTA news agency said on Monday. ARD earlier this month broadcast a report which claimed both Mariana Nikolova and the German embassy in Sofia had helped a German pedophile, who presented himself as an aid worker, bring Bulgarian gypsy children to Germany. Nikolova, who taught some of the children featured in the report, said she knew the man but denied any link to the children smuggling case. Nikolova is to sue ARD television for libel, her lawyer Plamen Velchev was reported as saying. "We will demand compensation of up to €100,000 ($133,000) for her ruined reputation," Velchev added. The German embassy in Sofia, which was accused in the report of aiding the criminal network by issuing visas to the gypsy children, also denied last week any connection with the scandal.