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SOFIA (Reuters) – A Bulgarian journalist who reported on an investigation into allegations of corruption involving funds from the European Union was murdered in the town of Ruse, in the Danube, said Sunday. authorities.
Prosecutors in the Balkan country said that Viktoria Marinova's 30-year-old body was found in a Ruse park on Saturday. They only identified her by her initials.
"There is rape and murder," Interior Minister Mladen Marinov told reporters. He added that there was no indication that the killing was related to Marinova's work or any information that she had been threatened.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov told reporters, "I am convinced that the revelation of the assassination is a matter of time.The best criminologists have been sent to Ruse, do not put pressure on them. large amount of DNA was obtained. "
Police should disclose more details on Monday.
"His death was caused by blows to the head and asphyxiation, his cell phone, his car keys, his glasses and some of his clothes disappeared," said Ruse regional prosecutor Georgy Georgiev.
Marinova, board member of the TVN TVN channel, based in Ruse – one of the most popular TV channels of northeastern Bulgaria – is the third journalist murdered in the city. European Union in one year.
Local media reported that Marinova had recently participated in the coverage of a survey conducted by a group of Bulgarian journalists with companies involved in EU-funded infrastructure projects and managed by the local authorities.
Last October, Daphne Caruana Galizia, Malta 's most famous investigative journalist, was killed after the explosion of a powerful bomb. Slovakian journalist Jan Kuciak was shot dead in February.
"With great pain and insurmountable grief, the TVN team is facing the loss of our dear colleague Victoria Marinova and we pray that we will sympathize with the sorrow of his loved ones and his colleagues," said TVN in a short statement.
Bulgaria ranks 111th out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders press freedom index, which is less than any other member of the EU and less than any other country in the Western Balkans, of which some are candidates for membership.
In October 2017, hundreds of Bulgarian journalists demonstrated in the center of Sofia against the threats of Deputy Prime Minister Valeri Simeonov against the biggest broadcasters in the country. He accused the mainstream media of carrying out a "massive defamation campaign" against him.
(Report by Angel Krasimirov, edited by William Maclean)
