French-Bulgarian philosopher Julia Kristeva in 2007. Photo: David Monniaux/ Wikimedia Commons.

The government-appointed Committee for Disclosing the Documents and Announcing the Affiliation of Bulgarian Citizens to the State Security and Intelligence Services of the Bulgarian National Army alleged on Tuesday that Julia Kristeva was an agent of the Communist-era security apparatus.

The committee claimed that the Bulgarian-born philosopher, feminist, literary critic, linguist and psychoanalyst was registered as an agent and a secret associate to the First General Department of the State Security bureau, which was responsible for foreign political intelligence-gathering.

According to the document released by the committee, Kristeva went under the pseudonym Sabina and was recruited on June 19, 1971 by Senior Lieutenant Ivan Bozhikov. The committee said it based its conclusions on two volumes of declassified files.

The document however provides no details that indicate how long Kristeva allegedly worked with the service, what her alleged activities were, or if she was paid.

BIRN contacted Kristeva’s agent by email for a comment on the allegation, but received no immediate response.

The Bulgarian-French philosopher has lived permanently in France since the 1960s and is currently a lecturer at Diderot University in Paris.

Kristeva was born in Sliven, Bulgaria, in 1941. After studying French philology at Sofia University, she moved to study in France on a French government scholarship.

She became a well-known figure in philosophical and literary circles in Paris and has been awarded many distinguished prizes, including Commander of the Legion of Honour, Commander of the Order of Merit, the Holberg International Memorial Prize, the Hannah Arendt Prize and the Vaclav Havel Prize.

She is the author of more than 30 books, including Proust and the Sense of Time, Black Sun: Depression and Melancholia, and the trilogy Female Genius.