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AFP
Vigils for the dead journalist took place throughout the country
A suspect has been arrested for the murder of Bulgarian journalist Viktoria Marinova, according to reports.
The body of Viktoria Marinova was found Saturday in a park in the northern city of Ruse, near the Danube. She had also been raped.
According to media reports, the man is a Romanian citizen with a Moldovan passport.
On Monday, hundreds of people in mourning organized vigils around Bulgaria, considered the worst country in the European Union for freedom of the press.
Ruse Regional Prosecutor Georgy Georgiev said that Ms. Marinova had been hit in the head and suffocated by the fatal attack, adding that "her mobile phone, car keys, glasses and some of her clothes had disappeared ".
It is unclear whether the murder is related to Ms. Marinova's work on a local television channel.
The Interior Ministry has neither confirmed nor refuted the arrest, but could make a statement on Tuesday.
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AFP / TVN TELEVISION
Ms. Marinova is the third senior journalist assassinated in the EU this year
Aged 30, he worked as a presenter for a news discussion program called Detector.
His first episode featured an interview with two Bulgarian investigative journalists investigating an alleged fraud involving European funds tied to businessmen and politicians. The two men, Attila Biro and Dimitar Stoyanov, were arrested in September while they were investigating the case.
Prosecutors said Monday they have opened an investigation into this alleged fraud, the AP news agency reported.
Ms. Marinova is the third senior journalist murdered in the European Union over the past year and the fourth since the beginning of 2017.
Swedish journalist Kim Wall was murdered by Danish inventor Peter Madsen after climbing into his house submarine for an interview in Copenhagen in August 2017.
In October 2017, Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb near her home. In February of this year, Slovakian journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova were shot dead.
Ms. Caruana Galizia and Mr. Kuciak were known for their work denouncing corruption.
According to Reporters Without Borders, Bulgaria is considered the worst country in the EU in the field of freedom of the press.
According to the organization, investigative journalists in the country are often under pressure, ranging from simple warnings to acts of intimidation and physical aggression against themselves or their property. .
The European Commission has called for a "quick and thorough investigation" into the murder of Ms. Marinova.
