Suspect arrested in murder of Bulgarian TV journalist Viktoria Marinova

Authorities in Germany arrested a suspect in the rape and killing of a Bulgarian television journalist whose work highlighted corruption in the East European country, officials said Wednesday.

Viktoria Marinova, 30, is the third journalist to be murdered in the European Union in the last year and the fourth since the start of 2017. Her body was found dumped near the Danube River in the town of Ruse, northern Bulgaria, on Saturday.

Police said she was beaten, raped and strangled. Sotir Tsatsarov, Bulgaria’s prosecutor general, confirmed the arrest of Severin Krasimirov, 21, a Bulgarian citizen, but gave no further details. Interior Minister Mladen Marinov said investigators found DNA evidence on Marinova’s clothes and body. He said Krasimirov, a resident of Ruse, had a criminal record for scrap metal theft. German authorities were not available.

A Romanian man arrested in Bulgaria on Tuesday in connection with the case was subsequently released without being charged, Bulgarian media reported.

It is not ultimately known if Marinova’s murder is linked to her journalism work. However, Marinova recently interviewed two Romanian journalists who were investigating politicians and businessmen for alleged corruption of EU funds. While Marinova wasn’t closely involved in the fraud investigation, Bulgaria, which joined the EU in 2007, was ranked 71st on Transparency International’s corruption list last year.

“It is about rape and murder,” Marinov said Monday, apparently concluding at the time that there was no evidence to suggest the killing was linked to Marinova’s work.

Marinova worked for a small local TV station called TVN where she presented two investigative programs. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, an intergovernmental organization, called for a “thorough investigation” of her rape and murder, noting “a trend of increased attacks against female journalists.”

Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed in a car bomb in October. She worked on the so-called Panama Papers, leaked documents that revealed financial information about the offshore accounts of high-profile officials. Slovakian investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his girlfriend were shot to death in February. Kuciak was investigating tax fraud. Swedish freelance journalist Kim Wall was murdered in a gruesome case in Denmark last year by Danish inventor Peter Madsen. Wall was killed and mutilated after boarding Madsen’s submarine for an interview.

Frans Timmermans, vice president of the EU’s executive branch, tweeted: “Again a courageous journalist falls in the fight for truth and against corruption. Those responsible should be brought to justice immediately by the Bulgarian authorities.”

Bulgaria ranked 111 out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders world press freedom index this year. That’s lower than any other member of the EU. Worldwide, at least 48 journalists have been killed doing their work in 2018, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, an organization that promotes press freedom.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters on Sunday he is looking into reports that Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian journalist for the Washington Post, was killed while visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last week. Khashoggi’s wife reported him missing after he failed to return from an appointment there. Khashoggi is a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The Post reported on Tuesday night, citing a person familiar with the investigation, that before Khashoggi’s disappearance, U.S. intelligence intercepted communications of Saudi officials discussing a plan to capture him. Saudi Arabia dismissed the claim.

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