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Suspect arrested in connection to rape and murder of Bulgarian journalist

Victoria Marinova, 30, was killed on Saturday in a park near the Danube River in Ruse, a city in the north of the country

A SUSPECT was arrested yesterday in connection with the rape and murder of a Bulgarian journalist who had highlighted possible corruption in EU-funded projects.

According to unconfirmed information from the interior ministry, the suspect is “a Romanian citizen with a passport from Moldova.”

Victoria Marinova, 30, was killed on Saturday in a park near the Danube River in Ruse, a city in the north of the country.

She was allegedly beaten, raped and strangled. The violence of the attack was such that police were unable to identify the body until Monday night.

The interior ministry said late on Monday that prosecutors had opened an investigation into and frozen the assets of the GP Group, a large private Bulgarian building company which has been accused of misusing EU money.

Ms Marinova was a director of TVN, a TV station in Ruse, and a presenter on two investigative programmes. Her final show on September 30 featured two journalists who were detained by armed Bulgarian police while investigating GP.

Ms Marinova is the fourth journalist killed in Europe this year, prompting the International Federation of Journalists to call on European authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice and put an end to impunity.

“Yet again a journalist covering corruption has been callously murdered,” general secretary Anthony Bellanger said.

“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.”

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