Cancer patient rights activist Teodora Zaharieva has been given the Civil Courage Award of the Panitza foundation, with the state commission for investigation of Communist State Security receiving a honorary mention.

The awards, established by John Dimitry Panitza, the man with the most outstanding international career among Bulgarian journalists, in 2006 to be given to citizens or organizations that have most furthered the development of democracy and civil society in Bulgaria.

Teodora Zaharieva was presented with her award by the Speaker of the Bulgarian Parliament Tsetska Tsacheva. Zaharieva was distinguished for her role in the fight for the actual enforcement of patient rights in Bulgaria.

In 2007, after a trial that protracted over 3 years, Zaharieva managed to win a claim of BGN 100,000 against the Ministry of Health for having failed to provide her with the needed treatment.

A honorary Civil Courage Award was presented to the state committee in charge of determining whether key figures of Bulgarian political and media life belong to the repressive former Communist State Security agency (the so-called Files Commission).