Bulgarian man held in reporter’s rape, death
SOFIA, BULGARIA— German police have arrested a suspect in the rape and killing of a television journalist from Bulgaria whose work highlighted corruption in the East European country, officials said Wednesday.
Bulgaria’s prosecutor general, Sotir Tsatsarov, confirmed the arrest of Severin Krassimirov, a 21-year-old Bulgarian citizen.
Prosecutors in the northwestern German state of Lower Saxony said the suspect was arrested Tuesday evening outside the city of Hamburg. Prosecutors will examine whether he can be extradited and apply to have him held in formal custody.
Bulgarian Interior Minister Mladen Marinov said investigators had found DNA evidence on the clothes and body of Viktoria Marinova, who was raped and strangled on Saturday in the northern town of Ruse. Authorities said that Marinova’s funeral would be held Friday in the town. She is survived by a 7-year-old daughter.
The Interior Ministry said that the suspect left Bulgaria early Saturday afternoon, crossing the bridge at Ruse over the Danube into Romania.
“There is physical evidence to link to the murder,” Marinov said. He said Krassimirov, a resident of Ruse, had a criminal record for scrap metal theft.
The minister said investigators had spoken to Marinova’s family and friends and “there is no apparent link to her work.”
Tsatsarov said the evidence suggested it was “a spontaneous attack, not premeditated.”
Prime Minister Boyko Borissov offered condolences to Marinova’s family. But he said he would withdraw his support for a German member of the European Parliament, Manfred Weber, a leading candidate to become the next head of the European Commission, because of tweets he made associating the death of Marinova with those of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and Slovak journalist Jan Kuciak.
Both were killed because of their investigations into corrupt officials.