© REUTERS / TVN.bgViktoria Marinova
Viktoria Marinova, a 30-year old journalist who reported on the alleged misuse of EU funds, was found brutally murdered in the northern Bulgarian town of Ruse, local TV station Nova reported on Sunday.
Her body was found on Saturday in a park near the River Danube, according to Ruse regional prosecutor Georgy Georgiev. Marinova was allegedly raped, hit repeatedly in the head, and strangled to death.
The victim's personal belongings, including her mobile phone, car keys, glasses, and some of her clothes were missing. A police investigation is now underway, with prosecutors probing all leads - both personal and professional.
However, Interior Minister Mladen Marinov told reporters, as cited by Reuters, that there was no reason to suggest that the murder was connected with Marinova's work at the Ruse-based private television station TVN. "It is about rape and murder," he believes.
Marinova was a TVN board member; she had recently started hosting Detector, a current affairs talk show. The first episode of the show aired on September 30; it featured an investigation into alleged fraud in local EU-funded infrastructure projects linked to authorities and big businessmen.
Comment: It's not yet clear whether this was a hit or just a reflection of the sorry state of society. But what is clear is that honest journalism is a rarity nowadays, and those who do expose the corruption in the upper echelons of power become targets:
- Suicide or murder? BBC journalist found hanged at Istanbul airport
- Another Russian journalist has been murdered in Ukraine
- Reporter who exposed BBC pedophilia cover-up 'drops dead'
- Murdered presenter tried to expose pedophile culture within BBC but 'No one wanted to know'
- 10 suspects arrested in murder of Maltese investigative journalist
- Second journalist to be killed this year, Russian editor investigating corruption murdered in his backyard
- Busted: Investigation finds that Bulgaria routinely ships weapons to Syrian militants
Update (Oct. 10): Authorities are now claiming that the brutal rape and murder of the investigative journalist was not connected to her reporting on the theft of money from EU-funded projects in Bulgaria. That seems very premature of a conclusion to make, which is ironic because the Chief Prosecutor is urging people not to "jump to conclusions". It would be very convenient for authorities if her death was a random act of violence. The attack has been compared to the recent killings of Maltese and Slovak journalists, who were investigating secret government dealings and fraud.