The Third Journalist To Be Killed In Europe This Year Was Raped And Murdered In Bulgaria
This week, Bulgarian journalist Victoria Marinova was brutally raped and murdered, making her the third journalist to be killed in Europe this year. The reporter’s body was found last Saturday in a park in the north Bulgarian city of Ruse. She was raped and died of blows to the head and suffocation, according to investigators.
It’s not yet clear whether the death was related to her journalistic work, however it has been noted that her last broadcast was an interview with two journalists who were looking into allegations of fraud involving EU funds on the Ruse-based television channel TVN, Detector. She had been reporting on this ongoing investigation over the last year.
Marinova is the third journalist to be killed in Europe this year. This event comes a year after the car bombing which caused the death of Daphne Caruana Galizia, who had worked on the Panama Papers revelations and uncovering related stories at the time. In February the investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his girlfriend were shot to death in Slovakia.
Shocked by the horrendous murder of Victoria Marinova. 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.
— Frans Timmermans (@TimmermansEU) October 7, 2018