SOFIA -- A Bulgarian TV reporter has been found dead in a northern border city and authorities say they are investigating into whether the killing was a random crime or connected to her reporting work.

Officials said on October 7 that Viktoria Marinova, whose body was found in a park in the city of Ruse a day earlier, had also been sexually assaulted.

Iliyan Enchev, the deputy regional chief of the Interior Ministry in Ruse, told a news conference that a person walking in a park in Ruse, a Danube River city on the border with Romania, notified police of a female corpse on October 6.

He said her body could not be immediately identified, because there was no identification on the body, and her mobile phone was also missing. Some of her personal items were scattered near the walkway, and her body was found lying several meters away from one of her shoes, he said.

A local prosecutor, Georgi Georgiev, told reporters that her mobile phone, her car keys, her eyeglasses, and some of her clothing were missing.

Marinova died "of combined trauma to her head and asphyxiation," he said.

Interior Minister Mladen Marinov was later quoted by news agency Focus as saying that Marinova had been sexually assaulted.

Georgiev said investigators were looking into several theories, whether it was a random crime or if the attack was connected to her work. He declined to answer reporters' question about whether there was signs she had been sexually assaulted.

A colleague at her employer, the private TV station TVN, confirmed Marinova’s death to RFE/RL, but declined to say anything more pending an official statement from the station.

"We are in shock," the man said, asking not to be named since he was not authorized to speak publicly.

A Bulgarian news site, Rusemedia.bg, said Marinova may have been jogging at the time, training for an upcoming road race.

A veteran TV reporter, Marinova for many years hosted a lifestyle show and also served as a member of the management team of TVN.

Several months ago, she became the host of an investigative program called Detector. The most recent show featured interviews about alleged corruption involving private companies misspending European Union funding.

At a previously scheduled meeting on October 7 of officials from the Interior Ministry, the Prosecutor-General's Office, and security agencies, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov promised that investigators would solve the case.

Though it wasn’t immediately clear whether the killing was connected to Marinova's professional work, her death prompted a concerned response from reporting organizations in Europe.

The press freedoms office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe called for a full investigation.

In a statement on October 7, the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists called on Bulgarian authorities to conduct a thorough investigation of Marinova's killing.

"CPJ is shocked by the barbaric murder of journalist Victoria Marinova," said Tom Gibson, the organization's European Union representative. "Bulgarian authorities must employ all efforts and resources to carry out an exhaustive inquiry and bring to justice those responsible."</s>Marinovas Kollegen sind allerdings überzeugt, dass ihr Tod mit ihrer Arbeit in Zusammenhang steht. Denn zuletzt arbeitete sie an Berichten über «GP Gate», einen riesigen Skandal um Korruption und Missbrauch von EU-Förderungen in Bulgarien. Offenbar werden in Bulgarien zwischen 30 und 40 Prozent der EU-Fonds für Regionalförderung von Consultingfirmen kassiert und dann über weitere Firmenkonstrukte an lokale Politiker verteilt. Die von der EU finanzierten Projekten werden deswegen nur mangelhaft ausgeführt, was im Falle einer Strassensanierung auch schon zu einem Todesopfer führte.

Drei tote Journalisten in EU-Staaten

In ihrem letzten Interview diskutierte Marinova mit ihren Kollegen die Zerstörung von Beweismaterial in der GP-Affäre in einer Kleinstadt bei Sofia. Zwei bulgarische Journalisten hatten vor Ort recherchiert und waren daraufhin von der Polizei festgenommen worden. Schon diese Verhaftung sorgte für Protest von internationalen Journalistengruppen und dem Büro für Medienfreiheit der OSZE (Organisation für Sicherzeit und Zusammenarbeit in Europa). Der Leiter des OSZE-Büros, der Franzose Harlem Desir, zeigt sich nun auf Twitter schockiert über den Mord.

Innert eines Jahres wurden nun in EU-Staaten drei Journalistinnen und Journalisten ermordet. Im Fall von Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta und Jan Kuciak in der Slowakei wurden zwar die mutmasslichen Täter verhaftet, die Auftraggeber wurden jedoch nicht gefunden und die Hintergründe nicht geklärt. Im Fall Kuciak soll der Auftrag von einem slowakischen Geschäftsmann gekommen sein, der schon wegen Korruptionsverdacht im Gefängnis sitzt.

Marinova hinterlässt eine 6 Jahre alte Tochter. Für Montagabend ist eine Mahnwache in der bulgarischen Hauptstadt Sofia geplant.</s>An investigative journalist was raped and murdered before being dumped by the Danube River.

The body of Viktoria Marinova, 30, was discovered in Ruse, northern Bulgaria, on Saturday October 6.

Police said the journalist, who presented two investigative programs on the town’s TV station, was brutally beaten, raped and strangled.

Her mobile phone, car keys, glasses and some of her clothing were also found to be missing.

Interior Minister Mladen Marinov said today that there is no evidence to suggest the killing was linked to Ms Marinova’s work.

He went on to state that the investigation was about ‘about rape and murder’.

Ms Marinova was a director at TVN, a small TV station in Ruse, and presented two investigative programs.

Her final show was about Attila Biro, a Romanian whistle-blower who leads the Rise Project Romania, probing into corruption.

He and a colleague from Bulgarian site Bivol.bg were arrested in September during an investigation into the destruction of documents related to suspected fraud inside the European Union.

‘We are in shock,’ a colleague of Ms Marinov from TVN told AFP under the condition of anonymity.

‘In no way, under any form, never have we received any threats – aimed at her or the television.’

The journalist, who now fears for his own safety, described Ms Mainova as ‘extremely disciplined, ambitious’ and said she was a ‘a person with an extreme sense of justice’.

A vigil for the journalist is being held in the Bulgarian capital today.

TVN said in a statement: ‘With great pain and insurmountable grief the TVN’s team is experiencing the loss of our beloved colleague Victoria Marinova and we pray for sympathy to the sorrow of her relatives and colleagues.’

Ms Marinova is the third journalist to have been murdered in the European Union in a year.

Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was investigating corruption, was killed when a bomb blew up her car in October 2017.

While Slovak journalist Jan Kuciak was shot dead with his fiancee in February this year after looking into alleged political corruption linked to Italian organised crime.</s>The European Commission has urged Bulgaria to conduct a rapid investigation into the killing of TV journalist Viktoria Marinova as mourners planned vigils near her home town.

Prosecutors said the 30-year-old had been raped, beaten and suffocated with her body left dumped in a park near the Danube river in Ruse on Saturday.

Her mobile phone, car keys, glasses and part of her clothes were missing, detectives said.

On her last aired TV show, as an anchor, on September 30, Marinova introduced two journalists who were investigating alleged corruption involving EU funds.

She said the regional current affairs show, 'Detector', would do similar investigations.

The European anti-fraud office OLAF declined to comment on the killing, but its press office said it was 'aware of allegations concerning possible misuse of EU funds in Bulgaria that have been brought to light by journalists in recent weeks'.

That appearance was her first time anchoring the show on Ruse-based TV station TVN - a popular channel in northeastern Bulgaria.

Previously, she was best known for presenting a regional lifestyle show and was not a household name nationally.

The European Commission, the European Union's executive said in a tweet today: 'There is no democracy without a free press ... We expect a swift and thorough investigation to bring those responsible to justice.'

Frans Timmermans, commission vice-president, said he was 'shocked by the horrendous murder of Victoria [sic] Marinova'.

He 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.'

Interior Minister Mladen Marinov said that there was no evidence to suggest a link to Marinova's work as a journalist so far - something echoed by police and prosecutors.

Marinov told reporters on Monday in Ruse, Bulgaria's main river port: 'We are working on all possible motives and we do not exclude any.'

He said no match had been found for DNA samples collected so far from the crime scene, which was close to a psychiatric clinic.

Marinova's final show was a program about Attila Biro, an investigative journalist with the Rise Project Romania and a colleague from the Bulgarian investigative site Bivol.bg, Dimitar Stoyanov.

The two men were briefly detained September 13 south of Sofia, the capital, as they investigated a tip that documents connected to suspected fraud involving EU funds were being shredded and destroyed.

Bivol.bg owner Assen Yordanov said he couldn't directly link Marinova's slaying to her work, but noted her show tackled 'our very sensitive investigation into the misuse of EU funds'.

Police and prosecutors said they were working on three possible motives - whether Marinova was a victim of a random attack by a person with a mental disorder, a planned attack or whether the crime was linked to her personal life.

Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov said: 'We do not exclude that it was a random attack, we do not exclude that it was a premeditated attempt on her life.'

Marinova would be the third journalist murdered in the European Union over the past 12 months.

Daphne Caruana Galizia, Malta's best-known investigative reporter, was killed when a bomb blew up her car in October last year and Slovak journalist Jan Kuciak was shot dead with his fiancee at their home in February.

Vigils for Marinova, mother of a seven-year-old daughter, were planned in Ruse and the northern cities of Vidin and Pleven, as well as the capital Sofia.

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said: 'Thanks to the large amount of DNA material collected it is just a matter of time before the perpetrator will be found.'

The TVN channel expressed shock over the killing of its colleague and board member, but declined to comment further, saying it would give investigators time to do their job first. The channel was due to air a tribute to her later on Monday.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's media freedom representative Harlem Desir condemned Marinova's killing on Twitter: 'Shocked by horrific murder of investigative journalist Victoria Marinova in #Bulgaria. Urgently call for a full and thorough investigation. Those responsible must be held to account.'

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said other TVN journalists should get police protection during the investigation.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said it was 'shocked by the barbaric murder'.

Bulgaria ranked 111 out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) world press freedom index this year, lower than any other EU member.

Widespread corruption, shady media ownership and suspected collusion between journalists, politicians, and oligarchs have made objective reporting a constant obstacle course, RSF said.

Reporters Without Borders warned last year about a suspected murder plot against a Bulgarian publisher, Georgi Ezekiev.

Bulgarian journalists at Zov News and the Bivol website were investigating a drug-trafficking ring suspected of having links to police when they uncovered the alleged plan to murder Ezekiev, who publishes Zov News.

One of the reporters involved in the investigation, Maria Dimitrova, received threatening messages by SMS and Facebook.

A journalist is killed on average every week around the world, according to figures compiled by RSF.</s>SOFIA - A television journalist has been brutally murdered in Bulgaria’s northern town of Ruse, prosecutors said Sunday, in a case that has sparked international condemnation.

The body of 30-year-old Viktoria Marinova, whom authorities identified only by her initials, was found on Saturday in a park, Ruse regional prosecutor Georgy Georgiev said. The death was caused by blows on the head and suffocation, he added. “Her mobile phone, car keys, glasses and part of her clothes were missing,” Georgiev said, adding that prosecutors were probing all leads - both personal and linked to Marinova’s job.

Interior Minister Mladen Marinov later confirmed to journalists that the victim had also been raped.

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov expressed hope that the investigation would succeed because of the “work that has been done. Thanks to the large amount of DNA material collected it is just a matter of time before the perpetrator will be found.”

Police sources told AFP that the crime did not immediately appear linked to her work.

The OSCE’s media freedom representative Harlem Desir condemned Marinova’s killing on Twitter: “Shocked by horrific murder of investigative journalist Victoria Marinova in #Bulgaria. Urgently call for a full and thorough investigation. Those responsible must be held to account.”

Marinova was an administrative director of Ruse’s small private TVN television and had recently launched a new current events talk show called “Detector”.

The first episode of the show on September 30 broadcast interviews with investigative journalists Dimitar Stoyanov from the Bivol.bg website and Attila Biro from the Romanian Rise Project, about an investigation of alleged fraud with EU funds linked to big businessmen and politicians.

The pair were briefly detained by police, drawing condemnation from Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

“We are in shock. In no way, under any form, never have we received any threats - aimed at her or the television,” a journalist from TVN told AFP under condition of anonymity, adding that he and his colleagues feared for their safety.

In a statement on their Facebook page, Bivol.bg insisted for police protection of Marinova’s colleagues.

A journalist is killed on average every week around the world, according to figures compiled by RSF.

Among the most high-profile recent cases were Malta’s anti-corruption blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia who died in a car bombing outside her home in October 2017, and top Slovak reporter Jan Kuciak who was shot dead with his fiancee at their home in February.

Bulgaria tumbled to 111th place in the annual RSF media freedom ranking in 2018 - the lowest among EU member states.

Widespread corruption, shady media ownership and suspected collusion between journalists, politicians, and oligarchs have made objective reporting a constant obstacle course, RSF said.

According to the Bulgaria-based Association of European Journalists, reporters from small regional and local media are particularly subjected to pressure from local businessmen and politicians and outright threats, often leading to self-censorship.

Violence against women has also been widespread in Bulgaria, with several brutal killings of women by their ex-boyfriends and ex-husbands causing an outcry in the media recently.

A candlelight vigil in Marinova’s memory is organised for Monday evening in Sofia.</s>A regional prosecutor says the death was caused by blows on the head and suffocation

SOFIA, Bulgaria – A television journalist has been brutally murdered in Bulgaria's northern town of Ruse, prosecutors said Sunday, October 7, with the case drawing international condemnation.

The body of 30-year-old Viktoria Marinova, identified by authorities only by her initials, was found on Saturday, October 6, in a park, Ruse regional prosecutor Georgy Georgiev said.

The death was caused by blows on the head and suffocation, he added.

"Her mobile phone, car keys, glasses and part of her clothes were missing," Georgiev said, adding that prosecutors were probing all leads – both personal and linked to Marinova's job.

Police sources told Agence France-Presse that the crime did not immediately appear linked to her work.

The OSCE's media freedom representative Harlem Desir condemned Marinova's killing on Twitter: "Shocked by horrific murder of investigative journalist Victoria Marinova in #Bulgaria. Urgently call for a full and thorough investigation. Those responsible must be held to account."

Local media reported that Marinova was an administrative director of Ruse's TVN television and had just started her own news talk show called "Detector". The channel has not released any statement so far.

A journalist is killed on average every week around the world, according to figures compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Among the most high-profile recent cases were Malta's anti-corruption blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia who died in a car bombing outside her home in October 2017, and top Slovak reporter Jan Kuciak who was shot dead with his fiancee at their home in February.

Bulgaria tumbled down to 111th place in the annual RSF media freedom ranking in 2018 -- lower than any other EU member state.

Widespread corruption, shady media ownership, and suspected collusion between journalists, politicians, and oligarchs have made objective reporting a constant obstacle-run, RSF said.

According to the Bulgaria-based Association of European Journalists, reporters from small regional and local media are particularly subjected to pressure from local businessmen and politicians and outright threats, often leading to self-censorship.

Violence against women has also been widespread in Bulgaria with several brutal killings of women by their ex-boyfriends and ex-husbands causing an outcry in the media recently. – Rappler.com</s>ROME—The face of 30-year-old Bulgarian investigative journalist Victoria Marinova had been beaten with such brutal force that the popular television journalist was not recognizable. Her semi-nude body was found in a remote area along the River Danube in Ruse, Bulgaria on Saturday, but it took hours to positively identify her. Initial reports in local Bulgarian media indicated that she had been raped, according to Interior Minister Mladen Marinov. She was also strangled and and suffocated. Her car keys, mobile phone, glasses and much of her clothing had been removed from the remote wooded area.

Marinova is the fourth journalist to be killed in Europe in the last 14 months.

Kim Wall, a Swedish journalist, was decapitated and murdered in August of 2017 during an interview on Peter Madsen’s homemade submarine in Copenhagen. Madsen was convicted of the murder and is serving a life sentence.

In October 2017, Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed in a car bomb near her home. Several men are on trial for detonating the bomb, but no one has been arrested for masterminding her murder.

In February 2018, Slovakian journalist Jan Kuciak was shot dead with his fiance in the home they shared. Three people are currently accused of the murder.

Marinova had just inaugurated a new television program called “Detector” on September 30. Her first two guests were journalists who had been arrested for their work. Bulgarian journalist Dimitar Stoyanov and Romanian journalist Attilia had been threatened and arrested for their work investigating allegedly corrupt Bulgarian businesses.

According to the European Council, the two journalists that Marinova had on her program had uncovered “large-scale and wide-spread corruption in EU-funded projects in Bulgaria worth hundreds of millions of Bulgarian leva.” Their work uncovered the destruction of documents by “a network of consultancy firms linked to large construction companies.”

Bulgarian prosecutor Georgy Georgiev says investigators are now considering whether Marinova’s efforts to expose corruption in Bulgaria were a motive in her murder. Much like Caruana Galizia in Malta, the muckraker had ruffled feathers of the government.

The European Federation of Journalists called for greater protections for investigative journalists across Europe. “This is the fourth brutal murder of a journalist in a Member State of the European Union since 2017,” Ricardo Gutiérrez, the head of the European Federation of Journalists said in a statement. “The killers and their sponsors obviously aim to intimidate the entire profession.”

The European Federation of Journalists has petitioned the Council of Europe to implement a plan to protect journalists. OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir called for a full investigation into the journalist’s murder. “I am shocked by the horrific murder of investigative journalist Viktoria Marinova in Bulgaria,” Désir said in a statement. “I will closely follow the investigation opened by the authorities. I urge them to swiftly identify and bring to justice those responsible and to clearly determine whether this attack was linked to her work.”</s>European Union representatives were on Monday adding to growing pressure on Bulgaria to pursue a thorough inquiry and find those responsible for the rape and murder of an investigative journalist whose body was found discarded in a city park in the north of the country over the weekend.

Victoria Marinova, 30, was the administrative director and presenter for private regional channel TVN and had been working on a project related to alleged high-level corruption with EU funds before she was brutally murdered and her body dumped in the city of Ruse, on the banks of the Danube River that form the border with Romania.</s>Press freedom groups have expressed their shock over the rape and brutal murder of a Bulgarian TV journalist whose last aired report had been about the arrest of two investigative reporters.

Victoria Marinova’s body was found at about midday on Saturday near a river bank in the town of Ruse, northern Bulgaria. She had been raped, beaten and strangled to death, according to local media reports.

Marinova, 30, worked as an administrative director for the TVN local television network. She had just started her own news talk show called “Detector”, broadcast on Facebook on 1 October.

Bulgarian Police have said they are looking at “all versions” of the motive behind her murder, but that it was unclear if her death was related to her work, according to news website Balkan Insight.

The regional prosecutor of Ruse, Georgui Georguiev, has told press that her death was caused by blows on the head and suffocation.

“Her mobile phone, car keys, glasses and part of her clothes were missing,£ he said. “There is no information to indicate that the crime was committed by more than one person.”

In her final report, Marinova had interviewed Romainian journalist Atila Biro from investigative news website Rise Project and Bulgarian journalist Dimitar Stoyanov from investigative news site Bivol.

Both men had been arrested and detained by Bulgarian police last month.

They had been looking into allegations of fraud involving European Union funding for the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

CPJ EU representative Tom Gibson said: “CPJ is shocked by the barbaric murder of journalist Victoria Marinova. Bulgarian authorities must employ all efforts and resources to carry out an exhaustive inquiry and bring to justice those responsible.”

International Federation of Journalists general secretary Anthony Bellanger said: “Yet again a journalist covering corruption has been callously murdered. Investigative journalism in Europe is increasingly under threat.

“It is time for states to act. No stone must be left unturned in the pursuit of her killers – there must be no impunity.”

Marinova is the fourth journalist to be killed within the European Union since 2017.

Slovak investigative journalist Jan Kuciak was shot dead in February this year in Slovakia. Investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb in October 2017 near her home in Malta.

Swedish freelance Kim Wall was killed by Danish inventor Peter Madsen on his submarine in August last year. He has since been given a life sentence.

Ricardo Gutierrez, general secretary of the European Federation of Journalists, sister organisation to the IFJ, said: “The killers and their sponsors obviously aim to intimidate the entire profession.

“We call on European governments to support without any delay the IFJ proposal for an International Convention on the Safety and Independence of Journalists and to implement the Council of Europe Recommendation on the protection of journalism and safety of journalists.

“States cannot remain passive following such an outburst of violence.”</s>An investigative television journalist has been raped and murdered in Bulgaria's northern town of Ruse, according to officials.

The body of 30-year-old Viktoria Marinova, whom authorities identified only by her initials, was found on Saturday in a park, Ruse regional prosecutor Georgy Georgiev said on Sunday.

"Her mobile phone, car keys, glasses and part of her clothes were missing," he said.

She was killed by blows on the head and suffocation, Georgiev said, adding that prosecutors were probing all leads - both personal and linked to Marinova's job.

Interior Minister Mladen Marinov later confirmed to journalists that the victim had also been raped.

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov expressed hope that the investigation would succeed because of the "work that has been done".

"Thanks to the large amount of DNA material collected it is just a matter of time before the perpetrator will be found," he said.

Police sources told the AFP news agency that the crime did not immediately appear linked to her work.

The OSCE's media freedom representative Harlem Desir condemned Marinova's killing on Twitter: "Shocked by horrific murder of investigative journalist Victoria Marinova in #Bulgaria. Urgently call for a full and thorough investigation. Those responsible must be held to account."

 

Marinova was an administrative director of Ruse's small private TVN television and had recently launched a new current events talk show called "Detector". 

 

The first episode of the show on September 30 broadcast interviews with investigative journalists Dimitar Stoyanov from the Bivol.bg website and Attila Biro from the Romanian Rise Project, about an investigation of alleged fraud with EU funds linked to big businessmen and politicians.

 

The pair were briefly detained by police, drawing condemnation from Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

 

"We are in shock. In no way, under any form, never have we received any threats - aimed at her or the television," a journalist from TVN told AFP under a condition of anonymity, adding that he and his colleagues feared for their safety.

 

In a statement on their Facebook page, Bivol.bg insisted for police protection of Marinova's colleagues.

A candlelight vigil in Marinova's memory is organised for Monday evening in Sofia.
Police announce that investigative journalist Viktoria Marinova was found murdered yesterday in a park in Ruse, Bulgaria. Marinova's latest work was on "GPgate", a scandal involving alleged corruption and abuse of European Union subsidies in Bulgaria.