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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 9 OcTOber 2018

Bulgarian journalist killed after reporting on corruption

By ALISON MUTLER suspected fraud involving
Associated Press EU funds were being de-
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) stroyed.
— Bulgarian police are in- Bivol.bg owner Assen Yor-
vestigating the rape and danov said he couldn't di-
slaying of a female televi- rectly link Marinova's slay-
sion reporter whose body ing to her work, but noted
was dumped near the her show tackled "our very
Danube River after she sensitive investigation into
reported on the possible the misuse of EU funds."
misuse of European Union "This is a topic on which no
funds in Bulgaria. other Bulgarian national
Authorities discovered the media dared to report on,"
body of 30-year-old Vikto- he told The Associated
ria Marinova on Saturday in Press. "To get to the truth,
the northern town of Ruse we are calling for an inde-
near the Romanian border. pendent investigation....
Police said she had been we want independent Eu-
raped, beaten and stran- A woman holds a candle next to a portrait of slain television reporter Viktoria Marinova during a ropean investigators to get
gled and her body was vigil at the Liberty Monument in Ruse, Bulgaria, Monday, Oct. 8, 2018. involved because we be-
found in a park near the Associated Press lieve the Bulgarian authori-
river. ties are part of this country's
Marinova was a director Mladen Marinov insisted Hundreds of Bulgarians al's corruption list last year. criminal network."
of TVN, a small TV station in Monday there was no evi- turned out Monday night Joining the bloc opened Yordanov said his journalists
Ruse, and a TV presenter for dence to suggest the killing for vigils to honor Marinova. an enormous spigot of pos- were getting threats to their
two investigative programs. was linked to Marinova's In Ruse, mourners, some sible new EU funding for Bul- safety for reporting on gov-
Journalists' groups and for- work. tearful, placed candles, garian infrastructure proj- ernment corruption.
eign officials expressed "It is about rape and mur- her portrait and roses— the ects or other programs de- Margaritis Schinas, spokes-
shock. Harlem Desir, the der," he said. national flower— at the signed to bring the nation man for European Commis-
media freedom represen- Chief Public Prosecutor foot of a monument. up to EU standards — funds sion President Jean-Claude
tative for the Organization Sotir Tsatsarov, on a trip to In the Bulgarian capital of that were very attractive to Juncker, said Monday the
for Security and Coopera- Ruse, said authorities had Sofia, mourners gathered both government officials commission expected "a
tion in Europe, demanded no new leads on a motive. outside a church. One par- and criminal networks. swift and thorough inves-
a "full and thorough inves- "At this stage, let's be care- ticipant, Kristina Petkov, Marinova's final show on tigation .... that will bring
tigation" of Marinova's slay- ful, not because we don't said Bulgarians now had Sept. 30 was a program those responsible to justice
ing. have anything to say, but "zero" trust in authorities. about Attila Biro, an in- and clarify whether this
A Bulgarian investigative because every word ut- "Whatever results the inves- vestigative journalist with attack was linked to her
online media site went tered loosely could dam- tigation (into Marinova's the Rise Project Romania, work."
further, calling for an in- age our work," he said. death) shows, people won't and Dimitar Stoyanov from He quoted Juncker as say-
dependent international Bulgarian police said they believe them," she said. the Bulgarian investiga- ing previously that "too
inquiry and saying corrup- were considering all pos- Corruption is endemic in tive site Bivol.bg. The two many" journalists are being
tion could compromise an sible scenarios and exam- Bulgaria, a Balkan nation men were briefly detained intimidated, attacked or
investigation by Bulgarian ining both Marinova's per- that joined the EU in 2007 Sept. 13 south of Sofia as murdered and "there is no
law enforcement. sonal and professional lives and was ranked 71st on they investigated a tip that democracy without a free
Bulgarian Interior Minister for leads. Transparency Internation- documents connected to press."q