Man held over death of Bulgarian TV anchor
People take part in a vigil in memory of murdered Bulgarian TV journalist Viktoria Marinova in Sofia on Monday.
Bulgarian police have detained a Romanian citizen of Ukrainian origin for 24 hours and were checking his alibi as they investigated the rape and murder of TV anchor Viktoria Marinova, whose body was found in a park in her Danube hometown of Ruse.
“We have in custody a person whose alibi we are checking, but for the time being we do not have a concrete suspect,” the head of Danube regional police in Ruse, Teodor Atanasov, told reporters.
“Work with him is continuing.”
On her last aired TV show, on September 30, Marinova introduced two journalists who were investigating alleged corruption involving EU funds. She said her regional current affairs show, “Detector,” would carry out similar investigations.
No link has been established to Marinova’s work. Her death has angered many in the Balkans country where people are frustrated with rampant corruption and an inefficient judiciary, for which Sofia has been criticized by the European Commission.
Prosecutors have said the 30-year-old journalist, who was a presenter and anchor at a local television station, had been raped, beaten and suffocated. Her body was found on Saturday.
The US embassy to Sofia tweeted that it was shocked by the journalist’s “horrific murder.”
“US is ready to help authorities if needed to bring the perpetrators to justice,” it said.
The European Commission has urged Bulgaria to conduct a rapid investigation into the murder.
Some local investigative journalists called on authorities not to play down the option that her murder might have been linked to her work as a journalist.
