TV journalist killed after fraud report
BUCHAREST: Police are investigating the rape and slaying of a female television reporter whose body was dumped near the Danube River after she reported on the possible misuse of European Union funds in Bulgaria.
Authorities discovered the body of 30-year-old Viktoria Marinova on Saturday in the northern town of Ruse near the Romanian border. Police said she had been raped, beaten and strangled and her body was found in a park near the river. Marinova was a director of TVN, a small TV station in Ruse, and a TV presenter for two investigative programmes.
Journalists’ groups and foreign officials expressed shock. Harlem Desir, the media freedom representative for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, demanded a “full and thorough investigation’’ of the slaying.
A Bulgarian investigative site, Bivol.bg went further, calling for an independent international inquiry and saying corruption could compromise an investigation by Bulgarian law enforcement.
“We want independent European investigators to get involved because we believe the Bulgarian authorities are part of this country’s criminal network.’’ said Bivol.bg owner Assen Yordanov.
A man has been detained as part of the probe into the murder, police said yesterday.
“We have detained a man. We’re still checking his alibi so he is not officially a suspect for committing the crime yet,” Ruse police chief commissioner Teodor Atanasov told journalists.