Bulgarian Investigative Journalist Viktoria Marinova Found Brutally Murdered In Ruse

[appalachiablue]

Source: Think Progress

By Luke Barnes, 9:53 am. Viktoria Marinova is the third reporter investigating corruption to be killed in the EU this year.

A popular Bulgarian journalist, who reported on alleged corruption involving European Union funds, has been brutally raped and murdered in the town of Ruse, on the border with Romania.

The body of Viktoria Marinova, 30, was discovered in a park next to the River Danube on Saturday. According to the European Federation of Journalists Marinova had been beaten and strangled, and the attack was so vicious that she wasn't able to be identified until Sunday night.

Bulgarian authorities have said that there is no indication yet that Marinova had been murdered because of he work. "It was about rape and murder," Interior Minister Mladen Marinov told the Guardian. "The best criminologists were sent to Ruse, let's not press them," Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov added. "A large amount of DNA had been obtained."

However, the owner of Bulgarian news site Bivol.bg, Asen Yordanov, said that the horrific slaying was almost certainly linked to her work. Viktoria's death, the brutal manner in which she was killed, is an execution," Yordanov said. "It was meant to serve as an example, something like a warning." In the first episode of her new program, Marinova had interviewed Bivol journalist Dimitar Stoyanov about an investigation into "large-scale and widespread corruption" with EU-funded projects. -More...


Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/viktoria-marinova-bulgarian-investigative-journalist-brutally-murdered-7ea85506c356/

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[Johnny2X2X]

1. This is a sick world

This is what the patriarchy does. This is what Trump would do if he could get away with it.

[YOHABLO]

2. And his supporters would go right along with it. We've seen this movie before in 1930s Germany.

[lapfog_1]

3. Journalists, especially those that expose corruption, are being murdered at an alarming rate

and it is EXACTLY what Trump wants from his supporters in America.

Has the state department made ANY comment about the saudi journalist killed in the embassy in Turkey?

And this woman in Bulgaria apparently was exposing some nasty corruption.

[Johnny2X2X]

5. Trump's ridicule of Ford

Last edited Wed Oct 10, 2018, 09:52 AM - Edit history (1)

Trump was quite literally suggesting at that rally that his followers murder Dr. Ford. He said she is evil after he made fun of her testimony. He said something has to be done. He was whipping violent people into a frenzy against an assault survivor, one who can't even now return to her home because of death threats.

Journalists and other opposition to Trump are going to start being murdered. And he'll say he had nothing to do with it, but they should have known it could happen.

People don't realize how far down the rabbit hole we already are.

[appalachiablue]

9. So many Americans don't know what's really going on now

here, in Europe, Brazil, etc. Reactionary, anti democratic forces are pushing to dismantle the free press and elections and other liberal institutions.
Marinova is the third EU journalist who's been murdered in the last year for investigating corruption there.

'Victoria Marinova, a 30-year-old Bulgarian journalist, has been murdered. The last work she did covered a corruption story about a private company stealing EU funds. Her body showed signs of rape, torture, and brutal damage to the face. RIP Victoria.' http://europeanjournalists.org/blog/2018/10/07/journalist-victoria-marinova-brutally-murdered-in-bulgaria/ …

[Delphinus]

20. You said:

"People don't realize how far down the rabbit hole we already are."

Sadly, you are so correct.

[Oneironaut]

4. My, what a coincidence, right?

How convenient for some people. I bet the rape kit will mysteriously be lost as well. What a shame.

[niyad]

6. thank you. a much more thorough report than I had.

[appalachiablue]

10. Sure thing, another EU journalist murdered. Very unsteady times.

How brutal and horrible.

[JudyM]

7. ...

[appalachiablue]

8. 3rd EU journalist murdered for investigating corruption in the last yr.

Troubling times in the EU now with conservative, anti democratic forces rising including attacks on the media.

"The Far Right Aims to Take Control of the European Union Next Year," Jonah Shepp, New York Magazine, Aug. 3, 2018.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/08/far-right-aims-take-over-european-union.html

The past year has been a historically bad one for liberal democracy in Europe. Right-wing nationalist and anti-immigrant political leaders and parties took power, consolidated power, or made major gains in elections across the continent, particularly in central Europe: Austria, Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, and Hungary.
The governing bodies of the European Union have been a perennial punching bag for the European right, which has accused them of undemocratically foisting liberal values and open borders on member states without their people’s consent.

Some nationalists, like the U.K.’s Brexiteers (and Donald Trump), see the solution in shrinking or dismantling the union. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, an anti-Muslim Eurosceptic nationalist and currently the closest thing to a dictator in the E.U., has a better idea: Take it over, and destroy the liberal order from within.
*He has undermined the independence of his country’s judiciary and smashed its free press: This week, supporters of his took control of a prominent television news channel. - More at Link.

[honest.abe]

11. Sickening.

Evil appears to be winning.

Very sad indeed.

[joshcryer]

12. It was "just" a brutal rape and murder.

That's what they actually said. No political motive whatsoever.

[Kentonio]

13. Political murders don't usually involve rape.

It would be extremely surprising if this was politically motivated. Assassins aren't usually stupid enough to leave large amounts of DNA behind to make it extremely likely that they will get caught.

[yardwork]

14. You haven't been paying attention, obviously.

[Kentonio]

16. Firstly, thanks for the rude reply.

Secondly, please link to some of these previous examples of political assassinations in western democracies that included brutal rape, that I've apparently 'not been paying attention' to.

[yardwork]

17. Here's what I suggest. Review all the suspicious deaths linked to Putin.

You will see that Putin sends a message each time. The murders are committed in plain sight, as a warning to others.

[Kentonio]

21. It wasn't political

[link:https://www.novinite.com/articles/192602/Journalist+Viktoria+Marinova%27s+Murder+Suspect+Partially+Admits+Guilt|

[yardwork]

24. I am deeply suspicious.

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. Viktoria Marinova: Man quizzed over Bulgaria presenter murder

A man is being questioned over the killing of Bulgarian journalist Viktoria Marinova, police say.

They said his alibi was being checked but he was not formally a suspect. He is described as a Romanian citizen of Ukrainian descent.
...
Ruse police chief Teodor Atanasov said the man, who also had a Moldovan passport, was being held for 24 hours for questioning.

"We have in custody a person whose alibi we are checking, but for the time being we do not have a concrete suspect. Work with him is continuing," Reuters news agency quoted him as saying.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45799233

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. Bulgarian Officials to Release Man Arrested in Connection with Journalist's Death

Bulgarian authorities on Tuesday will release and won’t charge a man taken into custody in connection with the slaying of Bulgarian television reporter Viktoria Marinova, whose body was found after she highlighted possible government corruption.

The man, who wasn’t identified, would be freed “very shortly,” said Teodor Atanassov, chief police officer of the northern town of Ruse. He declined to provide further details on the ongoing investigation.
...
The Interior Ministry said late Monday that prosecutors had opened an investigation into GP Group, a large private Bulgarian building company alleged to have misused the EU money, and froze 14 million euros ($16 million) of its assets.

http://time.com/5419746/bulgaria-releasing-man-journalist-death/

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. Viktoria Marinova: Arrest over Bulgarian journalist murder

A man has been arrested in Germany in connection with the rape and murder of Bulgarian journalist Viktoria Marinova.

Bulgarian officials say a man named Severin Krasimirov has been detained at their request.

The country's Interior Minister, Mladen Marinov, said the suspect was a DNA match for evidence recovered at the crime scene.

Current evidence does not suggest the attack was linked to Ms Marinova's work as a journalist, officials said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45808619

[Takket]

22. Journalists are being exterminated...

[Blue_Tires]

23. Greenwald and Snowden were unavailable for comment